Built To Last
by AmyLeigh88
Summary: Sometimes fantasy turns into reality. Six months was a long time to be together. It was also a long time to be away from real-life. Things change. People change. Feelings change. Set after 4x01.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: **I'm loving the direction of Nick/Andy this season and over this hiatus, these two have simply consumed me. I just cannot get enough of them so I finally just had to give in and try my hand at writing a McCollins fic of my own.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Rookie Blue or any of its characters.

* * *

It had been a long day. Showing up at Gail's with donuts that morning felt like a lifetime ago to Nick. It was days like this where it was almost a necessity to go blow off some steam at The Penny. His fingers tapped on the bar absently as he got lost in his thoughts while he waited for the bartender to return with the drinks. His earlier conversation with the bank manager's wife, Cynthia, replayed over in his head much like it had been all day as if it were on an endless loop.

_What were you holding out for?_

_Fireworks. I guess. And I found them…with someone else._

He glanced back at Gail who was sitting at the table that he had left just moments ago. Things had been different since he had come back from the undercover op. Of course things at 15 Division had changed. Six months was a long time to be gone. And that's what he had been telling himself for the last week. He just needed to get back into the swing of things.

That was why he had shown up at Gail's house earlier that morning with a peace offering in the form of donuts. He figured the familiarity of being with Gail would bring him some clarity. Unfortunately, the only clarity it had brought him was that she was pissed and he wasn't going to get off easy for going undercover for six months without so much as a good-bye.

Deep down, he knew what was different. What had _really _changed. It was him. _He_ had changed. He wasn't the same guy that had left six months ago. As much as he tried to ignore it and pretend, he wasn't sure he was going to be able to for much longer.

He turned his gaze towards the front door. Nick didn't need to scan the room to know who wasn't at the bar yet. He had already done that when he and Gail had arrived. His eyes had been transfixed on the door despite his best efforts to tear them away which was why he was currently standing at the bar waiting for drinks for him and Gail.

Just then the door opened and he felt that pang in his chest that had become all too familiar in the last couple of months. Somewhere along the way, Andy McNally had snuck up on him. He wasn't sure if he could pinpoint the exact moment but it didn't really matter. It had happened. His best friend had become… something more. He let his thoughts drift briefly to the what-ifs.

Like what if he told her how he felt? What if she felt something more for him than simple friendship? What if Sam Swarek no longer mattered?

The door opened once again and all of Nick's what-ifs disappeared as Swarek came through it. Nick's eyes darted away from the door – Andy and Sam – as he pushed off the bar. Grabbing the drinks that the bartender had set in front of him, he turned and headed towards Gail. Seeing Andy and Sam together had been the clarity that he had needed.

His thoughts once again drifted back to his conversation with the bank manager's wife. He and Gail had a good thing. It was comfortable. Familiar. Maybe there weren't fireworks but that wasn't always what you needed. It certainly hadn't been what Cynthia had needed.

Setting the drink in front of Gail, he listened to her rant about all of the happy people in the bar before he blurted out, "Move in with me."

She took one sip as she listened to his words and looked up at him skeptically. "What? Are you drunk already Collins?"

"No," he told her. He sat down to look her in the eyes. "I'm serious. I wanna be with you as long as you'll have me. Even if you stay mad."

Instead of giving him an answer, Gail leaned forward and kissed him hard. He kissed her back, cupping her face in his hands before they broke apart. "So I guess we're moving in together," he said, smiling.

Gail was smiling too. "Nah, I already told Dov I'd move into Chris' room when he moves out."

Nick didn't understand. "So why are you so happy?" he asked, confused.

"You're such an idiot," she laughed. "Because you asked me."

Then she was kissing him again. Everything was as it was supposed to be. So he did what he should do and kissed her back. All thoughts of Andy and fireworks drifting away. That is until he heard her laugh from the table next to his and Gail's.

His thoughts betrayed him as his mind was flooded with moments from the last six months. The two of them horsing around at the lake house. He and Andy laughing as they watched a movie in their small apartment. Running a 5k every other morning together. Waking up before Andy to see her sleeping peacefully on the couch. Carrying Andy to bed after she had passed out while they were talking after a particularly exhausting day. The hesitation of their first kiss. The natural ease of their last kiss.

He told himself that it would pass. Those months hadn't been real. It had all been an act. There was a little voice in the back of his head that he tried to ignore but it was persistent. _If that's true, then why does _this_ feel like an act?_

* * *

_Nick leaned in, their lips almost touching before she burst out laughing. Again. He sighed, fixing her with an annoyed look. She at least had the decency to appear contrite._

"_I'm sorry," she said, doing her best to wipe the smile off of her face. "I can be serious. I can." She sucked in a breath and let it out. _

"_You know that if they're going to buy that you and I are a couple then we have to be able to kiss in front of them without you cracking up every time," he lightly scolded, a teasing twinkle in his eye._

"_I know, I know." She looked at him, scrunching up her nose slightly at him. "It's just…this is weird right?"_

_Nick leaned back and rested against the other end of the couch in his new apartment that Andy would soon be moving into. He had been laying the groundwork for his girlfriend of two months to meet the crew that he had infiltrated. They finally trusted Nick enough that they had told him to invite her to a very small party at the lake house the next day. If they were going to believe that he and Andy had been dating for the last two months then they needed to be able to be affectionate like a normal couple in love. Her words broke into his thoughts. "I mean, I know that this is part of our job but you're Gail's boyfriend."_

_His head fell back on the couch as he answered, "I'm pretty sure that ended the moment she decided she was going to France and I decided I was going undercover for months."_

_Andy tucked her legs underneath her on the couch and rested her arm on the back of the couch. "Yeah, but its Gail. You guys have been through worse than this and got back together." She was trying to reassure him but judging by the look on his face, it wasn't working._

"_It's different this time," he replied, turning his head to look at her._

_Deciding that it was best to lighten the mood, Andy asked, "Do you need a breakup buddy?" Her question had the desired effect on him as he cracked a smile. She smacked his leg lightly, grinning at him. "See, I had this kick ass breakup buddy a few months back and he taught me a few things."_

"_Kick ass, huh?" _

"_I might've been over-exaggerating," she teased._

_Nick chuckled. "I was the best damn break-up buddy you've ever had." He reached over and tickled her side causing her to squirm away from him on the couch._

"_You are the only break-up buddy I've ever had so I don't have much to compare you to," she told him laughing. She had nowhere else to go on the couch as both of his hands had found the most ticklish spots on her sides._

"_Well, so far you're the worst and I don't need another break-up buddy to know that," he joked. _

_Andy poked his side in an attempt to torture him the same way he was torturing her. That didn't work. She continued to randomly poke in desperation to find his weakness even as she laughed uncontrollably. Her laughter was infectious and soon Nick was laughing nearly as hard as Andy. "Please stop," she gasped between giggles._

_She only had to ask once as he immediately took his hands away from her sides finally allowing her to catch her breath. As Andy opened her eyes, she realized that in their playing around Nick had ended up on top of her on the couch. He lowered his head slightly, his eyes locked on hers. They had to do this. They couldn't avoid it any longer._

"_Don't laugh," he said softly, searching her eyes for a moment._

_For the first time that night, laughter was the furthest thing from her mind. "I'm not," she told him. _

_On instinct, he licked his lips as he moved closer. He hovered inches away, hesitating for a moment. This was new territory for both of them. Surprisingly, it was Andy that closed the distance between them, leaning up and pressing her lips firmly against his. Her first thought was that his lips were soft. Then she thought about how it didn't feel as weird as she had expected it would. Maybe it was because she trusted Nick. He had become one of her closest friends over the last few months and she was glad that she was on this undercover assignment with him._

_Nick pulled back a bit finally but still hovered over her slightly. "Believable?" Andy asked in an attempt to prevent the moment from becoming awkward. _

_He nodded his head, smiling slightly. "Yeah, that should work."_

Nick opened his eyes, looking around the dark bedroom in confusion. The walls of his apartment weren't the whitewashed walls that he and Andy had been sharing for months but then his eyes fell on a sleeping Gail and it all clicked into place. It had just been a dream.

He rested his arm against his forehead as he stared up at the ceiling. It was bad enough that he couldn't seem to get Andy out of his head when he was awake but now he was reliving their time together in his dreams? Closing his eyes, he tried to go back to sleep but after a few minutes his eyes shot open once more.

Sighing, he quietly slipped out of bed, grabbing his phone off of the nightstand before heading towards the living room of his apartment. He slid his finger across the screen to unlock the phone before going to his text messages and finding Andy's name.

_Are you awake?_ He typed out and quickly hit send before he had the chance to change his mind. It was almost 2 a.m. so he figured that she would be sound asleep but on the off chance that she wasn't…

A reply popped up below the message he had just sent. _Unfortunately. _He worried that unlike his dreams, her dreams of their time undercover were of the more unpleasant variety like the moment when he had actually pulled the trigger of a gun in pointe blank range at her face.

Glancing back towards his bedroom, he saw that he was still the only one awake so he headed towards the front door. Once he was outside, he found Andy's name in his contact list. He smiled when she answered after one ring.

"You know they could have told us that adjusting back to normal life was not going to happen overnight," she complained without greeting him.

"Yeah," he agreed. "There were a lot of things that Callaghan failed to mention."

"What? Like how we would have to live in a shoe box for six months?" she cracked.

He chuckled as he thought about their old apartment. "You know, I kind of miss waking up on that couch."

"No you don't."

"You're right, I don't," he admitted, grinning. "We had some good times though."

"Oh my God, do you remember that night we spent hours assembling that bookcase from IKEA?" Andy asked.

"You mean the Bookcase From Hell?" he quipped, causing Andy to laugh. Nick remembered hauling the large box up the stairs in their apartment building, thinking that they would have it assembled in less than an hour. He was now fully convinced that whoever wrote the instructions for the self-assembly furniture got some sort of sick pleasure out of oversimplifying them so that inevitably things did not go smoothly.

"There were so many pieces of that damn thing scattered around the living room that we didn't know which piece went where," she mused, her smile evident in her voice.

Nick smiled as he thought about the two of them standing in the middle of everything that they had taken out of the box, looking at the directions, trying to figure out which piece they were supposed to start with. "Why did we even need a bookcase? Oh wait, I know. It was for all of those journals you kept while we were undercover," he teased.

"Hey, those journals helped you from having to stay in Mississauga longer than a week," she pointed out, laughing softly.

"And once we finally put it together, the bookcase did look nice," Nick added helpfully.

"It was a little wobbly." Both Andy and Nick laughed.

Nick knew why _he_ was wide awake but Andy had somehow avoided that topic all together. The questions about her dreams that he'd had before he had called her returned. He was worried that it had nothing to do with a certain detective and everything to do with the moment he had pulled the trigger on her. Granted, he had done it to try and protect both of them but it didn't change the fact that it had happened. He hated the idea that something he had done could cause her any pain. "Are you okay?" he asked, his voice taking on a more serious tone.

"Sam and I talked tonight…" she trailed off.

"And?" he urged wanting to know what Swarek had said to her. When he had left The Penny earlier that night, he had seen Swarek with Marlo and realized that when he had seen Andy and Sam come into the bar together that it had not been because they had gotten back together.

"I told Sam that he broke my heart and he told me that I had gotten him back," she explained.

"So he's keeping score?" Nick interjected. "Now you're even?"

Andy sighed. "I don't know. I asked him why he was with Marlo and he basically told me that she's not complicated like me."

Nick thought that Swarek was a great cop but when it came to relationships and Andy McNally, the guy needed to grow up.

Andy's words broke into his thoughts. "It shouldn't be this hard, right?" She sounded exhausted, not just physically but emotionally. "Oliver told me to fight but… I don't know."

"Andy, he's the one that needs to make it up to you. Wasn't that what he told you? That he would do everything to make it right? Did you tell him that if he had meant that then waiting six months for you would have been a great first step?" He couldn't keep the frustration out of his voice. In the early days of their undercover op, they had talked about Swarek and his big love confession and how Andy felt about it. He had seen firsthand the damage that Swarek had done to her.

"No," she mumbled. "Where were you when I needed you tonight?" she asked, half-serious, half-joking.

"I was asking Gail to move in with me," he told her.

"Oh? What'd she say?" she asked, her tone neutral. He did his best not to read too much into it. It could just be because she was tired and couldn't muster up the energy to sound more excited.

"She's moving into Chris' old room when he moves out of Dov's place soon," he told her.

Andy didn't mask the incredulity in her voice. "She turned you down?"

"It's for the best. " He had secretly been relieved when Gail had told him that. Asking her to move in had been a knee-jerk reaction to something that had nothing to do with her.

She did her best to give him some words of encouragement but all that came out were incoherent sounds that could've been words but were unintelligible with her loud yawn.

Nick took that as his cue that it was time to say good-bye. "Hey, get some sleep, alright."

"You too. Good night."

"Good night, Andy." Nick sat on the front stoop a bit longer, holding his phone in his hand, completely oblivious to the fact that Gail had just overheard most of his conversation with Andy and was making her way back to bed, silently fuming.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: **My apologies for not posting this before today. I had planned on finishing it this weekend but I've been sick since last Friday and I just can't write when I'm sick and my brain is fuzzy. Luckily, I was able to finish it before the new episode (barely!). This was my interpretation of what I saw in promos from awhile back that just so happen to be part of tonight's episode so I wanted to get this posted before then.

I have to tell you guys, I was amazed when I saw all of the reviews, favorites and follows. I figured I would be lucky to get 10 reviews since this is a McCollins story and could not have been happier to be wrong about that. You guys were so awesome and all of the reviews just made me want to get the next chapter posted that much faster. So... I hope you guys enjoy this one! I would love to hear what you think!

* * *

Nick was sitting in the Parade room talking to Dov when Andy slid into the empty chair next to him. "Glad to see you could make it this morning," Nick teased, turning to look at Andy briefly. She shoved him slightly in response as he went back to his conversation with Dov.

"So are you in?" Dov asked.

"Yeah, I'm in," Nick agreed.

Andy looked at them both, curiously. "In for what?"

"Andy, you should totally come," Dov told her. "There's this awesome paintball field that Chris and I found a little while back and a group of us are gonna meet up out there tomorrow. Sort of a last hurrah before Chris leaves us for Timmons."

The thought crossed her mind that she should find out if Sam and Marlo were a part of this group but she stopped herself. These were her friends. Sam and Marlo being in the same place as her outside of work shouldn't affect whether she wanted to hang out with everyone or not. She shrugged her shoulders in agreement. "Sure, sounds like fun."

The three of them turned towards the front of the room as Chief Best walked in. "Alright, listen up people."

Nick leaned over to Andy and quietly whispered, "Sam and Marlo aren't going to be there." He smiled at her as she turned to look at him.

She returned his smile in silent thanks.

* * *

The next day Dov, Chris, Nick, Andy, Gail and Traci all stood around at the paintball field putting on their protective gear. They had already decided that Dov and Chris would be the team captains since this was really their thing.

"Heads or tails?" Nick asked Chris as he balanced a coin on his thumb.

"Heads… wait, no tails," Chris said, indecisive as ever. Nick flipped the coin in the air and caught it in his hand before flipping it over to reveal that Chris had been right to change his mind.

"You get first pick," Nick told Chris before putting the coin back in his pocket.

Chris didn't even have to think about who his first pick would be. "Collins."

"Gail," Dov countered, picking his soon-to-be new roommate. Gail smiled brightly at Dov as she went to stand by him.

Glancing back and forth between Traci and Andy, Chris wasn't sure who he should pick so he went with the detective. "Traci."

"Seriously? I get picked last?" Andy said incredulously, throwing her hands up in the air as she walked over to join Dov and Gail.

"Don't worry, you're on the winning team," Gail smirked, looking over at Chris, Nick and Traci.

"Besides of the obvious bragging rights, what will we get when we win?" Nick asked with a cocky grin.

Gail smiled at the other team mockingly. "It's so cute that you guys actually think you're going to win."

"Nick brings up a valid point," Dov agreed. He thought about it for a second and then it hit him. "The losing team buys the winning team's drinks tonight at The Penny."

Everyone agreed and began to head off to their respective sides. Pointing two fingers at her own eyes, Andy pointed them back at Nick just to let him know she was coming for him, making Nick laugh as he and his team moved in the opposite direction. As Andy, Dov and Gail walked behind some tires with netting that could provide cover for them, they all crouched down to discuss strategy. They were playing capture the flag rules, only instead of a flag they needed to capture a stuffed animal.

"Nick is fast so Chris will want him to rush us when the game gets started to try and catch us off guard," Dov told them. "We're going to hold behind the nearest cover until Nick gets close enough to take him out. With one of them out we can advance on their fort to get the flag." Dov looked over at Andy. "Andy, your job is to get the flag while Gail and I back you up. This will work. Trust me."

Gail looked at Andy and shrugged before turning her attention back to Dov. "You're the captain."

"Damn right I am!" Dov put his hand in the middle and Gail and Andy laid theirs on top of his. "Now let's go out there and kick some ass!" They all lifted their hands up and hollered, getting pumped up. They all stood up and peeked over the boxes to see where their first move would be. As they were surveying the field in front of them, the horn sounded letting them know that the game had begun.

All three advanced to the closest cover and were surveying the way forward when Andy saw movement to the right. Fast movement like someone was running from cover to cover. From the other side of the field they heard Traci's voice call out, "Hey Andy, I heard your aim's a little off! Are you sure you're going to be able to hit anything?" Just then Andy saw movement once again. Aiming her gun in that direction, she tracked the movement and fired off a couple of rounds when she saw Nick attempting to move to the next cover.

"Shit!" was Nick's cry as the paintball struck him in the leg.

"Looks like my aim's just fine, Trace!" Andy yelled back, smirking as she watched Nick make his way back to home base before he could try to advance again.

"Let's move," Dov ordered. Then the three of them were running to the nearest cover once again. They heard a couple of paintballs hit the metal barrels. With the sounds that they made as they hit them, Andy understood why Nick had cried out. She was sure that they would sting like hell.

They were on the move again when they heard a yelp from Gail. "Damn it!" she yelled in frustration before holding up her hands to indicate she had already been hit. Both Andy and Dov looked to see that Gail had been hit in the thigh as she made her way back to home base. Dov managed to nail Chris in the arm as they continued advancing. Nick had rejoined his team which was making it harder and harder to get closer.

Dov looked at Andy and motioned for her to start moving to the right. She ran as fast as she could but not fast enough as she felt the paintball strike her in the abdomen. "Ow!"

She could hear Nick's laughter as she headed back to home base. "Green looks good on you, McNally!"

On the other side of the field, Nick didn't even need to see her face to know that Andy was making a face at that moment, mocking his laughter. "I'm coming for you Collins!" Andy yelled to him.

As Andy waited at the base so she could return to the field of play, she thought about a different strategy. Maybe Chris had it right. She was small and fast and could get over there, grab the stuffed giraffe and get back before they even realized it was gone. Sure it might take her a few tries but she was going to win. Nothing, and no one, was going to stop her.

Hustling as quickly as she could, she made it to some nearby barrels. Andy peeked around the barrels to survey the area. The other team's attention seemed to be focused on Dov and Gail who were towards the middle of the field. She made a break for the next cover and made it there safely.

She managed to move quickly, firing off a few rounds at Traci as she made it into the other team's territory. Then she saw it, the stuffed giraffe that she needed to snatch to win the game. In a flash she rushed around the tires and grabbed the animal then quickly ducked behind the cover she had just come from. Chris was currently occupied by Dov and Gail was doing her best to take Traci out. _Where the hell is Nick?_

Her question was answered when the tires were hit with paintballs. She looked over the top of the tires to see Nick about ten yards away. A couple more pellets hit the tires as she got fully behind the cover again. She was pinned down. "I could really use your help here Dov!" she called out loud enough for her team captain to hear.

"I thought you were coming for me, McNally!" Nick taunted.

"I decided that grabbing your flag would be more fun!" She grinned as she looked down at their prize.

Getting back to her mission, she crouched at the edge of the tires and got ready to run as soon as Dov helped clear the way. She saw Dov pop up and fire at Nick who ducked down behind the barrels that were providing cover for him. Andy took off and made it to the next cover. Gail joined in as well to help give her teammate the best shot to make it back to home base. Taking her teammates movements as her cue, she ran as fast as she could, ducking behind cover after cover.

She was almost there. Another five yards and the game would be over. Andy started to move but stopped as she heard a paintball hit the barrels. She waited a beat as she heard multiple guns firing and decided it was now or never. "One-two-three," she counted down, her heart pounding with both excitement and exertion. Sprinting as fast as she could, Andy let out a whoop of excitement as she made it safely to base.

Game over.

* * *

Andy walked over with Dov and Gail, who was currently carrying the giraffe, to where Nick, Chris and Traci were standing. She felt good, energized. Her thoughts went back to her conversation with Oliver the previous week about fighting for Sam. Maybe he was right. If Sam wasn't going to fight for them then she'd have to do it for the both of them.

"Good game," Nick congratulated them.

"I thought you guys might've had us for a minute there, but Andy was like a ninja," Dov replied. "It was awesome!" He and Gail started to celebrate again.

Andy looked at Nick, Traci and Chris, a cocky smile on her face. "Listen, I'm not the dumb new kid on the block anymore, right? I set my mind to something, I fight to the death and I win." Backing away from them she pointed her paintball gun at the ground and shot a single round. "Pop." Then she turned around to join Dov and Gail.

"Think she's talking about paintball?" Nick asked, turning to Traci as they watched Andy continue to celebrate her team's victory with Dov and Gail.

Traci had a knowing smile on her face as she answered, "I think she's talking about Sam Swarek."

That's exactly what Nick had been worried about.

* * *

That evening, Andy was coming back from the bathroom and headed towards the group's table at The Penny when she saw Nick standing up at the bar, getting another round for everyone. "Hey," she said, sidling up next to him at the bar.

"Hey," he returned, smiling at her.

"So today's been fun, right?" she asked, glancing over her shoulder at their friends who were all currently laughing at what appeared to be a story that Dov was telling.

"Yeah, it's been nice to hang out with everyone again," he agreed. While some aspects of their six months undercover had been fun, when it hadn't been just him and Andy it had gotten exhausting pretending to be someone else for an entire day. It was good to be around his friends again and have a normal day where he could just be himself. They stood there in comfortable silence for a moment. He had wanted to talk to Andy about what she had said after paintball and see if Traci was right ever since they had gotten to The Penny. "So what you said earlier about fighting to the death…" he trailed off, trying to think of the best way to broach the subject.

"Yeah?" she questioned, curious to see where he was going with this.

"Were you talking about Swarek?" Ultimately, he knew that with Andy sometimes the direct approach was best otherwise she would find a way to dodge his question.

"No," she said, making a face like that was the most ridiculous idea in the world. Nick didn't say anything, he just looked at her levelly. In the six months that they had spent together, one of the many things that he had learned about Andy McNally was that when he wanted her to fess up to something, all he needed to do was stay silent, fix her with a look and she would spill like a kid that had been caught with their hand in the cookie jar. "Okay, fine, maybe I was."

"I thought you were letting go." He recalled their conversation from the previous week. She had sounded defeated and tired and now…

"I don't know. Maybe Oliver's right." Andy shrugged her shoulders as she leaned back from the bar a little bit. "Maybe now's not the time to give up. Maybe I do need to fight for what I want."

Nick shook his head and sighed.

"What?"

"Do you want to be _that_ person?" he asked.

"What person?"

"The one that comes back into her exes life and decides that she wants him and doesn't really care about who gets hurt in the process," he told her. The thing was, Andy hadn't only talked about Sam when they had been up late at night talking on their couch in their cover apartment, she had also told him about Luke. And Jo. "Do you want to be like Jo?"

Andy's eyes went wide. "I am _nothing_ like Jo. How can you say that?" she objected, unable to hide the fact that his implication hurt. She hadn't told him those things so he could throw it back in her face like he just had.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that," he backed down a little. "All I'm saying is that much like you didn't with Luke and Jo, Marlo didn't ask to be caught in the middle of the Andy and Sam drama."

"Can we just talk about something else please?" Her jaw was clenched in irritation. A part of her knew that he was right, but she ignored it.

"Fine, I'll drop it," he told her, not wanting to fight. Picking up three of the beers on the bar, he nodded his head for Andy to pick up the others. "I almost nailed your leg in that last sprint to your base today." He smiled at her, trying to lighten the mood.

"You did not." She smiled back, glad that he was letting the whole Sam thing go even if it was just for now. "I was like a ninja out there," she said, echoing what Dov had said earlier.

* * *

Gail looked up as Nick and Andy made their way over to the table laughing. Ever since she had overheard the phone call the week before she hadn't really noticed anything out of the ordinary between Nick and Andy. She had thought that maybe she had been reading too much into it and had been able to rationalize it.

She heard a voice in her head ask when the last time he had laughed like that with her was. When they had made _each other_ laugh, or even smile, like that. Grabbing the beer that Nick handed her, Gail plastered on a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes.


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note: **I was on vacation last week and didn't really get any writing done until my flight home. I'm spoiled about tonight's episode and the next two so I have all sorts of ideas running through my head so I hope that I'll be able to get the next chapter posted before next week's episode. I also just wanted to thank you guys for the reviews, favorites and follows. Getting your feedback just makes my day and makes me want to write even more. :) So leave me a note and let me know what you think.

* * *

Andy lay in bed, her mind going back to her conversation with Sam earlier that evening. She had meant what she said about knowing when to walk away. Riding with Marlo had given Andy a new perspective. Marlo wasn't the enemy that Andy needed to take down; she was the woman that Sam had chosen to move on with. He had moved on. It was time for her to do the same.

The weight that lifted off of Andy's chest at that thought surprised her. It felt like she could breathe again. She had been holding on so tightly for months that Andy knew that it would take time for her to completely let go but tonight had been the first step that she had needed to take. Acceptance.

Her thoughts drifted to Nick. She was glad that they had become so close because he wasn't afraid to call her on her bullshit like he had that night after paintball at The Penny. Andy also knew that when she needed him, he would be there. There was no doubt in her mind that he would help her through this just like he had when Sam had broken up with her after Jerry died. Or how he had been her rock when they went undercover. There had been many a night when they had been undercover that she had questioned her decision to take such a long-term assignment and he had been able to talk her down from the ledge. Helped her see that things were going to be okay.

* * *

_Andy and Nick sat on the couch in the living room of their cover apartment watching one of _The Fast and The Furious_ movies, which one Andy wasn't quite sure because her mind had been occupied with other thoughts since about ten minutes in. So far she had been successful in keeping her battle internalized but she needed to talk so she blurted out, "Do you think I made a mistake?"_

_Nick turned his head to look at her, a puzzled expression on his face. "With?" he asked, needing her to clarify what exactly she thought she might have made a mistake about._

"_Doing this?" She gestured around at the apartment. "Agreeing to leave it all behind for the next six months so we can nail these guys?" She paused for a moment and took a deep breath. "Walking away from another chance with Sam?" Her voice trailed off, almost wishing she hadn't asked that last question._

_Reaching for the remote control on the coffee table, Nick picked it up and hit a button, muting the television before turning back towards Andy. He had known this conversation was coming. He just didn't realize that it would happen less than two weeks into their undercover assignment. "No, I don't think you made a mistake," he stated simply before continuing. "What did you tell me the other night about being a cop?"_

"_It's what I've wanted to do my entire life," she told him. _

"_Exactly." He scooted closer to her on the couch. "I know that you care about Sam. I care about Gail but sometimes you have to do what's best for you. Undercover assignments like this don't come along every day, and you knew that which is why you took it."_

"_I know. It's just… I don't know." Andy didn't know how people in witness protection did it. She missed everyone. Not just Sam, but her dad, Traci, Gail, Dov, Chris, Oliver, Noelle… All of her friends that she had made at 15 Division._

"_It's going to get easier," he reassured her._

_Andy nodded her head knowing he was right. It had just been harder than she had anticipated it would be because she had thought that she would play a more active role in the undercover op but so far she had been relegated to running surveillance and working at a local bar that was a known hangout for some members of the crew that they were trying to infiltrate. The most excitement that she had seen was a drunken fight between two bar patrons a couple of nights ago and she wasn't even the one that got to break it up. The lack of action had given her way too much time to think and question her decisions. "It's just hard, you know? You at least get to interact with these assholes. Me? I've become a bartender."_

"_Andy, you are the reason why I've got an in with these guys," he offered sincerely. "You're my eyes and ears." He reached out and patted her knee lightly. "I know you miss everyone. I do too."_

_The surprise on Andy's face was evident at Nick's admission since he hadn't really seemed to be phased by leaving everything behind so far. _

"_When all of this is over, they'll understand." He needed her with him in this 110%. They were partners and were fast becoming closer friends than either of them had thought possible in such a short time. _"_Even Sam_."

_She smiled crookedly at him, thankful for his words of encouragement. "Thanks."_

"_You're welcome, partner," he replied as he unmuted the television. "You know, you're like the Elena to my Hobbs." Andy looked at him quizzically. "Are you not getting my reference?"_

"_Oh, I'm getting your reference." She leaned forward and snatched popcorn from the bowl on the coffee table in front of them. "I just think it's a bad one," she teased. "We're both Brian, the undercover cop who infiltrates the street racing gang."_

"_No, we're the bad ass cop team. I'm the muscle and you're the beauty. Besides, Brian was an undercover cop in the first movie," Nick corrected. "Brian's gone rogue. He's a good cop, gone bad. Are you trying to tell me something Andy?"_

_She threw some popcorn at him, laughing. "You're an idiot, you know that?"_

_He grinned at her in response as he picked up the popcorn that she had thrown at him and ate it._

* * *

Nick was sitting on the couch playing _Madden NFL 13_ when he saw his phone light up, signaling that he had a new message. Hitting the button to pause the game, he picked up his phone expecting it to be a text from Gail, who had decided to spend the night at home, but was surprised to see that it was actually from Andy.

_You were right, _was all her text said_._

His brow furrowed as he read her message, slightly confused. Right that she was going to need those toothpicks that he had given her earlier that day since she and Marlo were going to be riding together? He racked his brain and remembered their conversation that night after paintball. Was that what she was referring to? He decided to ask.

_Right about what?_

Setting his phone down on the couch next to him, he went back to his game while he waited for her to reply. He was in the middle of a play when he saw his phone light up again out of the corner of his eye. Nick continued to play for a moment longer, pausing it just after he got the first down that he had needed. Reaching down he grabbed his phone and slid his finger across the screen to look at his text messages.

_You were right that I don't want to be like Jo._

So she _had_ been talking about their conversation at The Penny. She had been pretty adamant about fighting for Sam and they hadn't really talked about it since. He was curious what had changed her mind.

_Did something happen with Marlo today? _He hit send then added, _Other than the shooting._

Nick picked up the game controller once again but stopped as he saw that Andy was replying.

_I was wrong about her. She's a good cop. _He looked at her response thinking that surely there had to be something more than Marlo being a good cop that had made Andy realize that fighting for Sam when he was in a relationship with someone else wasn't the right thing to do. Before he could ask the question, another text from Andy popped up. _And Sam cares a lot about her._

And there it was. He knew this was hard on Andy. That had been part of the reason that he had disagreed with her determination to win Sam back somehow. He hadn't wanted to see her get hurt. Again. _I'm sorry, _he told her.

In his mind, he could just see Andy curled up in her bed with tears flowing down her face. He felt this overwhelming urge to shut off his video game and rush over to her apartment and comfort her. Before he could stop himself he sent another text, _Do you need me to come over? _He stared at the message he had just sent in disbelief, wishing that he could take it back. They were just friends. That was it.

That _had_ to be it.

Quickly he typed out another message, _I can get ice cream & we can watch a chick flick. _He hoped that his attempt at humor had made her laugh and also made his invitation to come over to her house at nearly midnight seem like the empty invitation that it wasn't when he had sent the message to her.

Nick breathed a sigh of relief and smiled slightly when he saw Andy's response, _LOL No, I'm fine. _Nick knew she was lying but he wasn't going to argue with her. _Besides, I don't think Gail would be too happy with you leaving her at your place in the middle of the night by herself. :P You might be sporting another black eye tomorrow._

That had been the dose of reality that he had needed. Gail. There was no reason for him to tell her that Gail wasn't staying at his place. _Haha, _he responded. _Or 2._

_True, _she replied. Another text immediately followed. _Ok, I'm going to bed. __I just needed to tell someone._

Had he been the first person that she had told? What did that even mean? He told himself that he didn't need to know. It didn't matter. He typed out a quick text, _Good night._

Andy responded almost immediately. _See you tomorrow._

Nick held his phone in his hand a moment longer. Things had been going great with Gail and he thought that he had moved past… whatever this was that he was feeling for Andy. He told himself that it was just a crush and it would pass. Unfortunately, it seemed that the more he threw himself into his relationship with Gail, the harder it was to shake the feelings for Andy that he had been trying so hard to ignore.

Anything other than friendship with Andy was an impossibility. His friends were his family and it could screw up the group dynamic that he had with his friends at 15 Division. Things like their upcoming camping trip with the six of them would become a thing of the past because Gail would hate both him and Andy.

Not to mention the fact that there was Sam Swarek. He didn't want to be another Luke, acting as a placeholder for him until one day Swarek woke up and realized that he wanted to be with Andy again. He wanted to be with someone who wanted him and only him. A little voice in the back of his mind said, _Isn't that what you're doing to Gail?_

This was different, he rationalized. He and Andy had never been anything more than friends. There had been…moments when they were undercover that could have easily crossed that line and had been damn close but they hadn't. Sure he had been feeling things that were more than just friendly, especially lately, but that didn't mean that he was just with Gail waiting for the day that Andy would figure out that he was the right guy for her.

He picked up his game controller in desperate need of a distraction. His hope was that by the time he finished his game and went to bed, that any and all thoughts of Andy McNally would be gone.

If only it were that easy.


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note: **First, I just want to tell you guys how awesome you are. I was so happy to see all of the reviews , follows and favorites after the last chapter. For all of the guests that reviewed, I wish I could reply to you individually but I'll just have to thank you here. So it looks like these are going to be weekly updates. Hopefully you all like this chapter as much as the last chapter. As always, I love hearing what you have to say so please review and let me know what you think!

* * *

On his drive over to Andy's apartment, Nick thought back to his earlier conversation with Chloe. He still couldn't believe his slip-up when she had asked him what his favorite part of undercover had been. He hadn't even thought twice about it when he had told her that one of his favorite memories was dubbing French movies, _Mystery Science Theater_-style, when they had been undercover. The two of them had always had so much fun together.

So when Chloe had asked, the first thing that he had thought of had absolutely nothing to do with the actual undercover operation. And he had seen by the way Chloe had been staring at him out of the corner of his eye as he had focused on the computer in front of him that she obviously hadn't bought his lame attempt at trying to hide his embarrassment or shrug off what he had said. Her knowing smile had unnerved him, but he had also been grateful that she had let the subject drop after that.

Based on how she was pursuing Dov, Chloe Price clearly had a lot of tenacity and he had been worried she would continue to pry. The therapist had told him that it was normal for people in committed relationships to have feelings for other people, but that didn't mean that he felt okay about it.

His thoughts went back to Chloe. Her not pushing him on the whole Andy thing was what had actually changed his mind about her. Sure she could be annoying and was going about things all wrong when it came to Dov, but she was friendly and seemed like a genuinely nice person. He knew that Gail would not be happy that he had invited Chloe, but last year, he was Chloe, the new cop at 15. It wasn't easy to be the new kid on the block.

He pulled his truck into a parking spot in the parking garage, Chloe pulling into the spot next to him. Getting out, he walked to the back of her car and waited for her so she could follow him to Andy's apartment. "Thanks again for inviting me, Partner!" Chloe told him excitedly as she practically skipped over to him.

"You're welcome," he replied, smiling at her giddiness.

Chloe, curious as ever, seemed to be taking in every little detail of the building. When they got in the elevator to go up to the lobby Andy's building, Chloe eagerly pressed the button labeled 'L'. "Have you ever gotten an elevator and stood facing the back of it when there are other people on it?" she asked randomly.

"No, can't say that I've done that," he responded looking up at the screen to watch the floor numbers pass by. It really did seem like she verbalized every thought that she had.

"I've always wanted to," she looked over at him with her wide eyes, "but I've never had the nerve to. People think I'm strange enough as it is." She laughed at that. He couldn't help but smile. As soon as the elevator doors opened to reveal the lobby, Chloe whistled. "Wow, Andy has some swanky digs. I wonder if she's in the market for a roommate?"

Even though he knew that Andy seemed to like Chloe, he knew that there was no way in hell that she would ever want her to be her roommate. "Yeah, I don't think that she is."

Chloe just shrugged, not really letting it phase her as they walked over to the elevator bank to take them up to Andy's floor so they could access the roof. "Oh well." As they stood there waiting on an elevator, Chloe blurted out. "Rooftop camping? How amazing is that?"

"It's certainly a new way to camp but I think it'll be fun," he said as the elevator doors opened. Holding his hand out, he let her get on the elevator before following behind her and pressing the button for Andy's floor. "Gail said they already have a fire going and are starting to cook burgers."

They rode up the elevator in silence for a moment before Chloe said, "I don't think Gail likes me very much."

Nick knew that was true but he hoped that could change tonight. "She just doesn't know you, that's all. It takes Gail a little while to warm up to people." Chloe nodded and smiled, clearly grateful for the reassurance. He returned her smile as the elevator doors opened on Andy's floor. Once again, he held the door for Chloe to let her get off first. Joining her in the hallway, he turned his head to the right and started walking that direction. "Follow me."

* * *

"Hey," Nick said as he walked over to where Andy was sitting by herself on the stairs of the water tower on the roof of her building.

"Hey," Andy returned, smiling up at him and scooting over to one side so he could sit down next to her. She turned her head to see Chloe talking to Dov, Chris and Denise while Traci and Gail sat with Leo and Christian roasting marshmallows over the fire. "It was really nice of you to invite her."

Nick shrugged his shoulders slightly, "Once you get past the strangeness, she's pretty okay."

That was one of the things Andy liked the most about Nick. Not only was he extremely nice but he tended to look for the good in people much like she did. "Yeah, I don't think Gail thinks so," Andy giggled. They both glanced over to see Gail still sitting with Traci and looking at Chloe like she had two heads.

Chuckling slightly, Nick rolled his eyes at his girlfriend's less than half-assed attempt to be nice before turning his attention back to Andy. "I wish you could've heard what Chloe said to me at the road block earlier," he told her, remembering his bizarre conversation with the quirky officer.

"What?"

He leaned in a little closer in hopes that Chloe wouldn't be able to hear their conversation. "So we're standing there and she thanks me for being nice to her and showing her the ropes," he started, his eyes darting behind Andy's head to make sure that Chloe was still talking with the small group. "Then she thanks me for not treating her like a _leopard_."

"You mean _leper_?" Andy corrected with a grin.

"That's what I thought she meant too, but when I tried to clarify and make sure that was what she meant to say, she told me that no she meant _leopard_," he was smiling now too, trying not to laugh. It was just so damn ridiculous. "And then she says that she does in fact mean a big jungle cat that apparently people avoid."

Andy couldn't contain the guffaw that escaped her lips at that. "You're not serious," she giggled, trying to keep her voice down.

Hearing himself tell the story only made it sound even more ludicrous than it did when it had actually happened. "That really happened this afternoon." Andy's shoulders were shaking as laughed silently.

He continued to chuckle as he took a sip of his beer.

"Oh my God, that's fantastic," Andy said, a bit out of breath from laughing so hard.

"Then when we were at the station, she's drinking her soda with a straw and she randomly turns to me and asks me if I knew that if you tried to drink from a straw inside your drink and one out, that you wouldn't be able to drink out of either at the same time." Andy started giggling again. "I mean, what do you say to that?"

"Let me try," Andy suggested, still smiling at Nick as she drank some of her beer.

Nick nodded and narrowed his eyes at Andy playfully. "Yeah, that's what I should have done," he replied sarcastically.

"I figured you would get bombarded with Dov questions." Chloe was clearly into Dov and it didn't look like she was going to be giving up anytime soon. She imagined that every time she had one of his friends around her for a long enough period that she would try and get as much information out of them as possible.

"Oh, I did." Nick took another swig of his beer before continuing. "Do you know what cherophobia is?"

"Cherophobia?" she echoed. "A fear of doctors or hospitals maybe," Andy replied with a shrug of her shoulders.

"You would be close," he told her in a tone that belied the fact that she was clearly not close to what it actually meant. "It's a fear of fun and she was curious if perhaps Dov has a mild case of it because other than the first night they met when he was drinking tequila, he seems to be afraid of fun."

Andy chuckled and raised her eyebrows at him. "Okay, now you're just making things up," she challenged before taking another drink of her beer.

His face grew serious as he looked at her levelly. "Do I look like I'm making that up?" Andy chuckled again and it was infectious and soon he was laughing right along with her. "I mean, don't get me wrong, she's nice but she's just…" he was searching for the right word.

"Quirky," Andy offered. Both her and Nick completely oblivious to a bewildered Gail who had just been stunned by Chloe's words telling her that her boyfriend was, in fact, falling for her friend.

Nick smiled at Andy and nodded. "Yeah, quirky."

* * *

Nick and Andy sat side-by-side next to the still burning fire, the only two still awake on the rooftop of Andy's building. Chloe had been the first to leave a couple of hours earlier. Soon after, Traci had put Leo to bed in the kid's tent and said good-night herself. Gail had tried to get Nick to come down to Andy's apartment with her where she had set up camp on Andy's couch rather than the tent that he had set up for them but he had told her that he wanted to stay and hang out with everyone awhile longer.

He had thought it was a little strange that Gail had stayed by his side for another half an hour despite having told him how tired she was when she had asked him to come to bed with her before she finally gave him a peck on the lips and wordlessly made her way towards the door to head downstairs. Then Chris and Denise bid their own good-nights followed by Dov not long after.

Grabbing an unused metal rod that Traci had brought to roast marshmallows with and the bag of jumbo-sized marshmallows, Nick poked the end of it through one that he had just pulled out of the bag.

"You do realize it's two o'clock in the morning, right?" Andy asked as he began roasting the sugary confection.

"So," he replied with a shrug of his shoulders. "I'm hungry."

Andy held her hand out, pointing it at the table that had all different kinds of food scattered across it, from chips to granola bars to cookies. "There's an entire table with plenty of food that isn't a gross, puffy blob of sugar and whatever the hell marshmallows are made out of," she told him, her nose wrinkling slightly.

"Yeah, but then I'd have to stand up and walk over there and that's just too much work," he explained as if he would have had to walk a mile in the snow uphill with no shoes. "It's like the marshmallows were sitting next to me because they were supposed to be there." He couldn't quite discern the look on Andy's face at his explanation. It was possible that it had something to do with the fact that he'd had quite a few beers. "What?"

She was smiling now. "Why is that you get philosophical about food?"

Nick rested his head against the back of the chair. He didn't really have a good answer to her question so he just shrugged. "Maybe you just bring it out in me," he finally answered, rolling his head on his chair to grin at her.

"Your marshmallow's on fire," she told him, pointing towards the fire.

Sitting up quickly he pulled the rod out of the fire and brought the marshmallow close to him, blowing out the flames. He glanced over at Andy and noticed that she was eyeing his marshmallow. Without saying a word, he swung the end of the stick with the marshmallow towards her. She looked from the marshmallow to him back to the marshmallow. "You can have it," he offered. "I know you want to eat it. Go ahead."

Her hand reached out and she pulled the soft and gooey sweet from the end of the stick, a grin on her face. Nick reached over and grabbed another one out of the bag to roast it for himself this time. "Mm," Andy moaned as she ate the sweet, her eyes closing in enjoyment. He held the rod over the fire once again before turning his head and smiling softly as he watched her. He couldn't help but notice how beautiful she looked in the campfire light. "Okay, I take back what I said about marshmallows," she said, opening her eyes again.

When her eyes locked with his, it was like he had been caught doing something that he shouldn't and quickly turned his gaze back to the fire. His face felt hot and he wasn't sure if it was the fire, the alcohol or…her. "All it took was one burnt marshmallow to sway you," he teased, doing his best to act as normal as possible.

"You know how much I love your cooking," she responded with a grin before suddenly standing up and walking over to the table. Rummaging through the different items on the table, she finally found what she was looking for and held them out so Nick could see the box of graham crackers and the bar of chocolate.

"S'mores," he said, his mouth nearly watering at the thought.

"It's a good thing that I'm not too lazy to get my ass up out of the chair," Andy quipped, plopping back down in her chair.

"Hey, I'm roasting the most critical part of the s'more," he protested as he pulled the marshmallow out of the fire. Andy looked at him expectantly as she broke off a piece of chocolate and placed it on a graham cracker. "I'm sorry, did you think that you were getting this?" he smirked, pointing at the marshmallow.

Andy nodded. "I did just get up and get these." She waved the partially completed s'more at him. He reached up and grabbed the now golden puffy confection, pulling it off the metal rod. Holding Andy's gaze he brought it towards his mouth as if to eat it but stopped suddenly as her mouth gaped open in mock shock.

"You're so high maintenance," he teased before reaching over and placing the gooey marshmallow on top of the chocolate in Andy's hand.

Andy let out a laugh at that. "Please, I am the _least_ high maintenance girl you know." She placed another graham cracker on top of the marshmallow and mashed it down. "You're lucky I'm also nice." There was a twinkle in her eye as she broke the s'more in half and handed one of the halves to him.

Taking it from her, he smiled at her in thanks and the two of them sat in companionable silence for a bit savoring the treat that they had made and enjoying the warmth of the fire. "Do you know what I miss about the lake house?"

Nick was a bit surprised by Andy's mention of the lake house. "No, what?" he asked, turning his head to look at her.

"The stars." They both gazed upwards, only able to see some of the brightest ones in the heavens with all of the lights in Toronto illuminating the sky. "I loved being able to see all those stars." Nick just listened to her talk as he picked up another marshmallow and speared it with the stick so he could roast it over the fire. "It always made me think of the camping trips that my dad and I used to take every summer up to Algonquin. Coon Lake was our favorite spot," she reminisced, smiling at the memories. "We would go canoeing on the lake during the day or hiking, but at night we'd sit around the campfire making s'mores and my dad would tell me stories and I would just lay there on my sleeping bag listening to him and staring at the millions of stars."

"What kind of stories?" Nick queried.

"Sometimes it was cop stories but most of them were about the constellations in the sky," she explained. Noticing that the marshmallow was almost done, Andy picked up a graham cracker and some chocolate.

"Did you have a favorite?" He tilted the stick so that the marshmallow would go further into the fire and pulled it out as soon as it was aflame.

Holding out the bottom half of the s'more so Nick could put the marshmallow on it, Andy thought about all of the stories her dad had told her. While she had always loved the story of Cassiopeia and her upside down crown, there was one that had made her sad and happy all at once each time she heard it when she was younger. "Probably Ursa Major and Ursa Minor," she answered finally as Nick placed the marshmallow on top of the chocolate once again. As she had done with the last s'more, Andy broke it and handed one of the halves to Nick.

"What's that?" he asked before biting into the sweet that he held in his hand.

She had heard the story so many times Andy remembered nearly every detail of it, even after all these years. "Zeus fell in love with a nymph named Callisto and had a son with her named, Arcas," she began, gazing up at the sky to see if she could find the two constellations. Even in the bright city lights that illuminated the night, she was still able to make out some of the stars that made up Ursa Major. "Zeus' wife, Hera, was so angry when she found out that Zeus had a son with Callisto that she turned Callisto into a bear." She turned her attention back to Nick who was listening to her story with the same intent expression that he'd had so often when they had sat around talking when they were undercover. "So Arcas is hunting in the woods and his mother sees him and approaches him, trying to talk to him. The only sound that Arcas hears is her growling. So as he lifts his spear to kill the bear, Zeus turns Arcas into a bear himself in order to protect Callisto. Then Zeus grabbed them by their tails and swung them into the sky, mother and son reunited for all of eternity. See?" Andy pointed at the faint stars in the sky that were visible.

Nick leaned over the arm of his folding chair close to Andy to see exactly where she was pointing. "I don't see a bear," he told her.

"That's because we're in Toronto and not Algonquin. The rest of it that makes up the bear would be…," she leaned closer, nearly cheek-to-cheek, so that her hand was directly in his line of sight. "Right… there." She outlined where she knew the body and the head of the constellation were if she could see them. Well, close to where they would be anyways.

"I like that story," Nick said in a soft voice. It had made him think about his own mother who he had lost much too young. He was hyper aware of every little thing about Andy in that moment as they stayed close together. The steadiness of her breathing, the little wisps of hair that were brushing against the side of his face, the faint smell of her body spray that had become one of his favorite smells over the last few months. He wanted to turn his head and close those few inches between them and feel the softness of her lips again.

Shifting back in his chair, he created some much needed distance from her. Nick was surprised when he felt the warmth of Andy's hand on top of his.

Unsure of what to say, Andy gave his hand a light squeeze. She remembered when he had opened up to her about his parents' deaths. No one should have to go through that sort of loss at such a young age. Her heart had broken for him as he had talked about them that night and it still broke for him. She had felt so honored that he had trusted her with something so personal to him. Nick smiled at her in thanks as she let go of his hand.

Nick sighed as he turned his gaze back to the sky wishing that things weren't so complicated.


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note: **I was trying so damn hard to get this chapter posted before the new episode tonight but sadly it didn't happen. The moment I heard about the weekend off during the undercover op, I knew I had to write my own version of what happened that weekend. Hopefully, you guys enjoy my take on what I think might've gone down. Also, I wanted to once again thank you guys for all the reviews, favorites and follows. I continue to be blown away and so completely happy by the response to this fic. You guys are so awesome! Now on to what you came here for so I hope you enjoy!

* * *

_Gail was just too curious to stop herself from asking Blackstone questions about Nick and Andy as they sat in the Parade room combing over all the information that they had on the anthrax-laced heroine that was currently wreaking havoc in their city. He had given such a vague answer and she needed to know more._

"_Yeah, but they would have to get along," she said, sitting down in a nearby chair. "They _were_ playing boyfriend and girlfriend, right?"_

_Blackstone shrugged slightly. "Yeah, but even in their free time there was a rapport so it makes my job easier," he answered._

_Gail was taken aback by what he had said but she did her best to hide it behind a smile. "Free time?"_

"_I like to give my guys a weekend off on a long operation so they can go home and check in since there's no phone calling or e-mailing," he told her before shifting in his chair and going back to the papers on the desk in front of him._

_Gail couldn't let this go. "So…he could've come home if he wanted?"_

_His eyebrows furrowed together slightly. "Collins? Yeah, he could've gone home but they decided to spend the weekend together. Ah, they went to Niagara or something like that. A little bike trip or something." _

* * *

Nick and Andy were sitting in the back booth in a diner about twenty miles outside of town, wrapping up their weekly debrief with Blackstone. This was normally the point where he would thank them for all the hard work they were doing and that he would be in touch in the next few days or so. "So Collins, McNally, I know that this has been a long op. Four months is a long time to go without contact with your friends and family so I want you two to take this weekend off," Blackstone told them both in a hushed tone.

"Sir?" Andy asked, not sure if she had heard him correctly.

"Go home for the weekend," he said, smiling at her and Nick. He began to slide out of the booth. "I don't want to see or hear from either of you until Monday." And with that, he stood up, put his hat on and headed for the door.

Andy was still a little befuddled at this new turn of events. "Did he really just give us the weekend off?" Nick nodded, surprised himself. "Huh," was all Andy could say.

* * *

The next morning Andy sat at the kitchen table drinking her coffee while Nick made them both an omelet that had quickly become one of Andy's favorite dishes. "So did you decide what you're going to do this weekend?" Nick asked as he turned away from the stove momentarily while he let the omelets cook a bit.

"No, did you?" she responded.

"I don't know," he sighed as he once again faced the stovetop, checking the progress of their breakfast. "Gail's in France. It's not like I have any family to go see so I might just go somewhere that's not Toronto." He turned his head to look at Andy. "You could go visit your dad."

"When I took this op, I fully expected to be gone for six months and go back at the end of it," Andy mused. "An off weekend where I get to go back and see everyone for a couple of days only to have to leave again for two months with no contact?" She thought about it as she sipped the hot coffee. "Would you mind if I tagged along on your somewhere-that's-not-Toronto weekend?" she finally asked.

Nick plated their omelets and walked towards the table with both plates in hand. "Andy, are you asking me to go away for the weekend with you?" he teased as he set her omelet in front of her.

Andy rolled her eyes, unable to hold back her smile. "We do live together," she shrugged good-naturedly. "It's about time you took me on a trip somewhere." Popping up out of her chair suddenly, Andy went over to the coffee table and grabbed the laptop off of it. Setting it on the table next to her, she opened it up and turned it on.

"What are you doing?" Nick asked before taking a bite of his omelet.

"Trying to figure out where we're going this weekend," she answered as the computer booted up. Eating some of her own omelet, she went to a tourism website to get some ideas. "Okay, what about Vancouver?"

"Too far," he replied.

Andy nodded in agreement. "Montreal?" It was only about a five to five and a half hour drive away.

Nick thought about it for a moment. He'd always liked Montreal but truth be told, he wasn't sure that he really wanted to go to a large city for the weekend. "I was thinking some place a little smaller. Somewhere we could go hiking or bike some nature trails."

He watched as Andy's face scrunched up in thought as she scrolled down the page she was looking at. "Hmm, what about Niagara?" she asked, looking up at him again. "We could stay in Niagara-on-the-Lake and do the loop. Maybe go visit some wineries."

Based on the smile on her face, Nick knew that she had pretty much already decided that's what they were doing so it was useless to try and suggest anything else. Besides, it sounded like it could be a lot of fun. "Alright, let's find a place to stay," he said, moving his chair so that he could see the computer screen as well.

* * *

A few days later, Andy played with the car radio as they headed towards Niagara, trying to find something that she wanted to listen to. Unable to find anything that even remotely sounded good on the radio, she dug into her purse and pulled out her iPod. Opening the center console, she found the USB cord and plugged it into the device in her hand. The radio switched over to her iPod as Andy began searching for just the right song. She looked up at Nick as her finger hovered over the screen. "Are you ready for this?"

"Do I have a choice?" he quipped.

Smiling in response, Andy turned up the volume and tapped the screen to select the song. _Shot through the heart and you're to blame/Darlin' you give love a bad name, _came blaring through the speakers.

"Seriously, Andy, Bon Jovi?!" he yelled over the music.

"Hey this is a classic!" she yelled back as the music played. Looking at him cheekily, she started singing the first verse, "An angel's smile is what you sell. You promised me heaven then put me through hell."

Nick just shook his head, chuckling at how into it she was. They couldn't have asked for a more perfect day to start their weekend in Niagara. There wasn't a cloud in the sky, it was probably 27 or 28 degrees Celsius and not nearly as humid as it had been earlier in the week. Andy had insisted on rolling the windows down once they had gotten on the highway. He glanced over at her once again, strands of hair that had come loose from her ponytail whipped around her face in the wind but she didn't even seem to notice as she continued to sing.

"Come on, you have to sing!" she exclaimed, smacking him in the arm.

At first he was going to tell her no, but then he changed his mind as the second verse began. "Paint your smile on your lips, blood red nails on your fingertips," he sang out, laughing slightly.

"_Now_ this is a road trip!" Andy yelled, grinning at Nick. They continued to sing the song, complete with fist pumps, air guitars and drum beats on the steering wheel. As the song was coming to an end, Andy reached over and turned down the radio. "Okay, so song roulette?" On Nick's look that clearly told her that song roulette was a bad idea she added, "_Or_ you can pick a song."

"What Rock do you have?" he asked. "That's _not_ 80s hair band."

Andy narrowed her eyes at him, "Just remember that I get to pick next." Nick chuckled at her threat. Scrolling through her phone, she started listing off various artists, "The All-American Rejects…The Bravery…Coldplay…Dashboard Confessional…Fall Out Boy…Fun…Imagine Dragons."

"Imagine Dragons," he interjected before she could name another group. "Radioactive." As the song started, it was Nick who cranked up the car stereo this time. Just as he had during the Bon Jovi song, Nick beat a rhythm against the steering wheel.

Content to just enjoy the music, Andy gazed out the window and watched the scenery go by. She hadn't realized how much she had needed this weekend until she and Nick had started planning it. Once they had booked their room, it had been all that she could think about. A weekend where she could truly be herself and didn't have to worry if she would be made. She fully intended to enjoy every moment. Realizing that the song was over, she looked down at her iPod to find the song that she had decided on the moment Nick had made his crack about her 80s music. There was no way that he could _not_ love Def Leppard's "Pour Some Sugar On Me".

Nick immediately recognized the song and smiled at Andy as she turned it up. It was going to be a fun weekend.

* * *

They pulled up to the Pillar and Post Inn in Niagara-on-the-Lake almost an hour later. Andy was glad that at least from the outside, it appeared to be as nice as the pictures that they had seen online. Nick parked the car near the front of the hotel and they both got out. Going to the trunk, Nick pulled both of their bags out and began to carry them towards the entrance as Andy shut the trunk behind him. "I can get my bag," she protested, falling in step beside him.

"I got it," he told her with a smile. Andy held the door open for him when they got to the lobby entrance then followed him inside towards the check-in counter. Approaching the counter, Nick set the bags down as the clerk behind it greeted both him and Andy. "Hi, the reservation should be under Collins," Nick told the man as he reached into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet to get his credit card.

The man took Nick's credit card and typed some information into the computer in front of him, "Ah, you'll be joining us for three nights."

"Yeah," Nick confirmed, leaning on the counter with his forearms. Nick watched as the clerk wrote the room number on a little envelope and placed two keys inside.

Andy looked around the lobby as they waited. She usually gravitated towards the modern in her own decorating choices but she loved all of the antique furnishings scattered throughout the large room, from the old piano to the worn trunk that doubled as a coffee table. There was something so charming and inviting about it. She turned around as she heard the front desk clerk speak.

"You're in room 210." The clerk handed Nick the keys and his credit card back. "Would you like for us to bring your luggage up to your room?"

"No, that's alright," Nick replied.

"Okay, you'll just go around this corner and there are some stairs and you'll be towards the end of the hall," the man told them, pointing in the direction that they needed to go.

"Thanks!" Andy told him as they headed towards their room.

They easily found their room and both grinned like it was Christmas morning as they opened the door and saw the two double beds. "We both get to sleep in a bed tonight," Andy sighed flopping back on the bed.

"Is it comfortable?" Nick asked as he set her small suitcase next to the bed that she was laying on.

"Yes," Andy moaned, eyes closed. "I think I could take a nap."

"Why don't you go take that nap poolside," he suggested as he set his own bag down next to his own bed.

"I like the way your mind works, Collins." She popped up suddenly and got off the bed so that she could rummage through her suitcase while Nick opened his own to find his swim trunks.

Fifteen minutes later they were both relaxing side-by-side against the edge of the pool. Andy lazily kicked her feet to keep her body afloat and get as much sun as possible. She could get used to this. "We need to do this every day while we're here," she told him, not opening her eyes to look at him.

"Sounds good to me," Nick agreed, his own eyes closed as he let himself truly let his guard down and not worry if he would do something to ruin the op for the first time in months.

"Remind me to thank Blackstone when we get back," Andy said. Nick just smiled.

* * *

The next two days were spent cycling the Niagara-on-the-Lake loop, going on a few winery tours, lounging by the pool and even strolling around town. Their final night they spent a majority of it at a pub that wasn't too far from their hotel. It was the first time in months that they had both allowed themselves to drink more than a beer or two. Andy wasn't sure how long they were at the bar, but she did know that she was drunk enough and that it was time to call it a night.

On the short walk back to their hotel, they somehow got on the topic of all the places they wanted to visit someday. "I've always wanted to go to Paris," Andy told him, a wistful expression on her face. "See the Eiffel Tower, walk down the Champs**-**Élysées."

"You need to work on your French first," Nick teased, easily dodging Andy's hand as she tried to push him.

"I don't like you," she told him.

"I bet you'd like me if I took you to Paris," he replied, grinning at her.

"Maybe."

He slung his arm around her shoulders, pulling her into his side. Wrapping her arm around his back, Andy leaned into him more as they continued to make their way to their hotel. "Where would you go?" she asked.

He thought about it for a moment. He could give the easy response that wouldn't raise additional questions or he could give the honest one. "Disney World," he answered, going for honest.

"Really?" She looked up at him a puzzled expression on her face. "Not Munich for Oktoberfest? Or Austria to go skiing?"

He was quiet for a moment as he thought about just how honest he should be. He trusted her. Completely. "When I was twelve, my parents gave me an envelope as part of my Christmas present and when I opened it up there was a brochure for Disney World inside. They were taking me to Disney World for a week the upcoming summer but we never got to go... They died a couple of months later."

Andy stopped suddenly and her grip on him halted his forward progress as well. Letting go of him, she moved in front of him and he looked away to avoid her gaze. She reached up and grasped his face in her hands, forcing him to look at her. One corner of his mouth turned up in a sad smile, but soon Andy's vision was blurred by the tears that had formed in her eyes. They had vaguely talked about his parents before but this was the first time that he had told her something that was obviously so deeply personal to him. She knew that words would just seem like empty platitudes so she did the only thing that she could think of, wrapping her arms around his neck and hugging him tightly.

She felt him snake his arms around her back and pull her to him so that their bodies were flush against one another. He let himself find comfort in her embrace and was pretty sure that if he let himself, he could fall in love with this girl. Reluctantly he loosened his grip on her and they both stepped back. Smiling up at him, she reached over and entwined her fingers with his.

"Come on," she said, giving his hand a slight squeeze.

They didn't really talk the rest of the way back to the hotel and once they were inside their room, they both got ready for bed in relative silence. Nick worried that he might have sullied their perfect weekend as he climbed under the comforters of his bed. He watched as Andy shut the light off in the bathroom as she came out and walked in between their two beds to turn off the light above the night stand. Nick was surprised when she lifted the comforters of his own bed and crawled in with him.

When they had first moved into the apartment, they had tried to share a bed but had ultimately decided that it could complicate things given their situation so they had settled on alternating the bed and the couch every other night. Resting her head on the pillow, she looked over at him. "Will you tell me about them?"

Rolling onto his side to face her, he tucked his arm underneath his pillow. "My dad wasn't exactly father of the year, but I remember when I was ten, I was in little league baseball and my team was the best in our region and we had this big tournament and my dad told me that he had to work and he wouldn't be able to make it. I was so disappointed," he told her in a soft voice. "I could see my mom in the grand stands. So I'm up to bat and I can hear my mom cheering me on as I walk up to the plate. I ended up hitting a double and when I got on base and looked up at the grand stands there was my mom cheering and right next to her was my dad."

Andy smiled at his story. "He made it."

"I played my heart out that game," he finished with a smile.

Instinctively her hand started to reach for him, but she stopped herself and instead asked, "And your mom?"

"My mom loved Christmas." Andy noticed the far away look in his eyes as he allowed himself to remember. "She went all out every year. I don't think there was a single room that wasn't decorated for Christmas and she made my dad line the roof with lights while she wrapped the bushes. Think the Griswald's from _National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation_." He laughed at the memory.

"That bad?" Andy giggled.

"Okay, not that bad but almost," he grinned in response. "She loved buying presents for everyone even more than she loved the decorations. I remember her always trying to be clever with where she hid my presents and almost every year I found them. She even used to sign 'From Santa' on some of them long after I stopped believing in Santa Claus. I'm pretty sure that the Disney World trip was her idea." He paused for a moment, their breathing the only sound in the room. "I miss them."

Tears fell silently onto Andy's pillow. She may not have the relationship with her mother that she had hoped for growing up but she still had her mother. She wasn't sure if it was because she wanted to comfort him or if she needed comforting but she scooted closer to him on the bed and wrapped her arms around him. "Thank you," she said, her voice muffled by his shirt as he held her. "For telling me about them."

"Thanks for listening." He kissed the crown of her head.

They laid there for a little while wrapped up in each other. Andy leaned back and looked up at Nick. "When this is all over, let's go to Disney World."

He knew this moment was important. He knew that when they went back to real-life that this would be when his world had changed. There was a moment's hesitation before he lightly brushed his lips against hers. It was so brief that Andy wondered if she had imagined it.

As Nick rolled onto his back, Andy shifted slightly to rest her head on his chest. She closed her eyes as she listened to the steady rhythm of his heartbeat, a content smile on her lips as he softly brushed his fingers through her hair. Soon her breathing steadied and the last thing she remembered was the feeling of Nick's lips pressed against her forehead as he whispered good night.


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Note: **So, the response the last chapter was just, wow. To those of you that reviewed that don't have an account on this site, I wish I could respond to you individually but I'll just have to thank you here. I just hope that this chapter and future chapters can live up to y'all's expectations. :D Anyways, that's enough from me, enjoy the chapter and tonight's new episode! Hopefully I'll have plenty to inspire me for the next chapter.

* * *

Nick sat at the intersection, the rain beating down on his truck and effectively drowning out any sound that might have come from the radio that he had turned up ever so slightly as he had driven away from 15 Division. He had needed something, even if it was just the dull hum of a barely audible song, to distract him. The traffic light emitted a harsh red light that was only made worse by the deluge of rain on his windshield that it glared off of.

His mind started to wander back to his conversation with Gail and instinctively his grip on the steering wheel tightened, knuckles whitening from the lack of blood flow as he squeezed with all his might. To try and distract himself he started counting the seconds, breathing in deeply and letting it out. It was something that had worked when he was in Afghanistan. He wasn't so sure it was working now.

He didn't want to go home. If he went home, he might break something, like his hand as it went through the dry wall of his apartment. He needed to be around other people. Going to The Penny crossed his mind but then he thought better of it because of who he might run into from the division there. He could always go to another bar, but then he would just be drinking alone in the bar and he didn't to be that sad sap that sat on a bar stool and drowned his sorrows in Scotch while pouring his heart out to a complete stranger.

Andy.

He debated with himself on whether it was a good idea to actually go see her. His feelings complicated things but he needed his friend right now. He had been handling these lingering feelings for long enough to know that he could ignore them when he needed to, and tonight, he would need to. As the light turned green, he drove straight a few blocks before making a left turn to head for Andy's apartment. If there was anyone that he could rely on at that moment, it was her.

* * *

Looking around her closet, Andy grabbed one of her t-shirts and pulled it on. The moment she had walked into her apartment all she had wanted to do was put on her pajamas, sit on the couch and watch TV or maybe even a movie. Something, anything to help take her mind off of the day's events and how emotionally draining it had been to revisit such a painful time in her life.

She had looked for Traci before leaving to see if she wanted to grab a drink and find out how she was dealing with everything but she had seen her sitting in her and Sam's office with Steve Peck, seemingly enjoying herself, if her grin and laughter had been any indication. Andy had been glad to see her best friend smiling and decided that it was better to save that particular conversation for another day.

Andy leaned forward and grabbed the remote control off of the coffee table to try and find something to watch on TV. She groaned as she seemed to find reality show after reality show. Sure, she liked good mindless fun but that was _not_ the kind of mindless fun that she wanted tonight. Continuing to flip through the channels, she stopped when she saw Sarah Michelle Gellar on the screen staking a vampire. She set the remote control back down on the coffee table and sank back into the couch cushions to enjoy some _Buffy the Vampire Slayer. _

When the commercial came on a few minutes later, Andy made her way to the kitchen to make some popcorn. As she stood there next to the microwave and listened to the kernels pop to make sure that she didn't burn it, she heard a knock on her door. Andy's eyebrows scrunched together as she glanced at the clock on her stove and wondered who would be knocking on her door at almost eleven o'clock at night.

She looked up at the time left on her still cooking popcorn and headed for her front door. Peering through the peephole in her door, she saw Nick. Andy reached for the deadbolt and unlocked it before she twisted the doorknob and opened it. "Hey," she greeted, concern laced her voice.

"Hey," he returned, scratching the back of his neck. "Sorry to just show up like this, but I, uh…" he trailed off. "Can I come in?"

"Oh, yeah, sorry," she apologized and opened the door wider so that he could come inside her apartment. "Come on in."

"Thanks," he said as he walked past her, not looking at her. He walked over to the couch as Andy shut the door behind him. The smell of popcorn suddenly registered in his brain and he turned to look at Andy. "Am I interrupting movie night?"

"It's actually become _Buffy _night," she responded as she went to the kitchen to check on the popcorn. "And you're not interrupting anything," she called to him, opening the door to the microwave to get the bag of popcorn. Taking off his jacket, he laid it on a nearby chair and sat down on her couch, waiting silently for her to come back from the kitchen. His eyes darted around her apartment. This was the first time that they had been truly alone like this since they had gotten back from undercover.

He heard the muffled footsteps of her socked feet on the hardwood floors as she made her way back into the living room, carrying a bowl full of popcorn and two cold beers. "You look like you could use one of these," she told him, handing him the open bottle.

"Thanks," he said, taking the beer. He stared down at it for a moment as he held it between his hands.

Andy looked down at Nick, who was still wordlessly studying his beer. She set the bowl of popcorn on the coffee table and sat down facing him on the couch, one foot tucked under her. Reaching out a hand, she lightly touched his knee to get his attention. "Hey, what's going on?"

He immediately missed her touch the moment she pulled her hand away. "Gail and I broke up," he answered, lifting his eyes to meet hers.

"What happened?" Andy asked. She knew that they had hit a rough patch over the last week especially the last few days. Nick had told Andy how Gail seemed to be avoiding him for some reason. Andy hadn't been able to help him much as she hadn't really spoken to Gail much either lately.

He took a large swig of beer before answering Andy's question. "I went to the prison because I knew that interviewing Perik was going to be hard for her and I wanted to be there to support her. He started playing his mind games and got her to start confessing things and she told him that she had slept with someone else," he stated, his mouth a hard line as his jaw clenched.

"Are you serious?" she asked. Andy knew first-hand the guilt that Gail had to be feeling after her own experience of nearly sleeping with Sam when she was a rookie. Unfortunately, she also knew the hurt and betrayal that cut like a knife when someone that you loved cheated on you thus why she had vowed to herself that she would never make that near-mistake again. She never wanted to make anyone feel the way that she had felt when Luke had slept with Jo and she hated that Nick was now probably feeling those things. "I don't get it. Other than whatever funk she's been in for the last week, I thought you guys were good," Andy said, taking a sip of her own beer.

Nick sighed. "Apparently not," he replied. He took another long chug from his beer.

"Have you guys talked?" It was kind of a dumb question because obviously they had talked, at least enough to break up anyways.

He nodded his head and took another drink. "After shift," was all he said and didn't offer up anything more than that.

Even though he had obviously come by to talk, Andy could see that she was going to have to pry the information out of him. "Did she tell you why?"

"She was jealous," he confessed, downing the rest of his beer and setting it on the coffee table.

Before he could continue, Andy picked up his empty beer and headed for the kitchen. She knew that the rest of their conversation was going to require at least one more beer for Nick. "Hold that thought," she threw over her shoulder. Placing the bottle next to her sink so she could throw it in the recycle bin later, she walked over to the fridge and pulled out another beer. She popped the cap off and quickly made her way back into the living room.

Nick took the proffered drink and thanked her with a small smile as she sat back down next to him. Her knee was resting slightly against his and it seemed to be all he could focus on. He raised his gaze to look at her once again, doing his best to pay no attention to the way that just a simple touch was messing with his head so much. "You know the weekend that you and I went to Niagara?"

"Yeah..."

"Well, she was convinced that something happened between us because rather than coming home for the weekend, I decided to go somewhere with you," he explained.

Andy scoffed at that. "That's ridiculous. We're just friends."

Nick felt his heart plummet at her words. The sting of them made him realize that he was in much deeper with Andy than he had thought. He swallowed hard, avoiding eye contact with her. "Exactly," he agreed, his voice sounding odd to his own ears. He hoped that Andy chalked it up simply to him being emotional over his break-up.

"Besides, you thought she had gone to France," Andy added. "And even if she hadn't, were you just supposed to come home for two days and then take off again for two months with no contact?"

His mouth turned up in a half smile as her words echoed his from earlier. "That's what I said." He tipped his head back and guzzled down about half of his beer. He sighed heavily before continuing. "It's not like I'm not entirely blameless either," he said, willing to shoulder some of the responsibility for the demise of his and Gail's relationship.

"Did you also cheat?" she quipped.

"Not exactly," he replied. Andy's raised eyebrows made him back pedal a bit. "I mean, I've had some doubts… about my feelings for Gail and things were just… different." It was the best he could do. He couldn't exactly be completely honest with Andy that it was his feelings for her that had made Gail insecure enough in their relationship to want to sleep with another guy just to get back at him. The writing had been on the wall for him and Gail ever since they had all camped out over at Andy's weeks ago, if he was being honest a lot longer than that, but today had been the first time he had allowed himself to truly see it.

The expression on Nick's face made her heart clench. Without a word, she embraced him in a hug. He wrapped one arm around her back, holding on to her loosely. She could feel the tension leave his body as she felt him relax in her arms. "It sucks," she said softly.

Nick knew he should let her go, but he wanted to take solace in her. He squeezed his arm around her and tightened his hold. Resting his chin in the crook of her neck, he closed his eyes and breathed the scent of her in. She had used the Victoria's Secret lotion that he had come to love so much when they were undercover. It was a heady mixture of vanilla and some other scents that he couldn't quite place but it was a smell that was so distinctly Andy and was his favorite smell in the world.

"So I'm just going to go ahead and offer my awesome break-up buddy services," Andy told him as her hold on him loosened. "And before you go rejecting my offer again like you did when we were undercover, I have to say that I think I've honed my skills."

Reluctantly he let go of her and they both shifted a bit further apart on the sofa. "Oh yeah?" he chuckled as she grinned at him in an obvious attempt to lighten the mood.

"Yes," she told him. "First, let's start with the mantra."

Nick took a deep breath as he knew what was coming. Simultaneously they both recited it, "I, Nick Collins, am still a kick-ass person. And just because my relationship failed, doesn't mean I'm a failure."

"It just means that you haven't found the right person," she added, reaching out and lightly squeezing his knee.

Nick gave her a warm smile. "Thanks, Andy."

She shrugged her shoulders and cocked her head to the side just a bit. "What are break-up buddies for?" she pointed out with a smile of her own. "You know what I think you need right now? A little _Buffy._" Andy leaned forward and grabbed the bowl of popcorn and set it between them. "I'll even let you have some of my popcorn."

They both faced the TV fully and leaned back side-by-side on the couch. "Popcorn and a vampire slayer? How could I say no to that?" he replied, reaching into the bowl and grabbing a handful. Nick kicked off his shoes in an effort to get more comfortable.

"Right?" she grinned, turning up the television volume. Andy reached into the bowl and pulled out her own handful of popcorn. "I mean, who doesn't love a girl who can pun _while_ kicking ass," she pointed out with a mouthful of popcorn.

"Good point." They watched as Buffy staked a vampire and it turned into dust. "Plus, easy clean up with the vampires turning to dust." Andy nodded in agreement.

* * *

Nick opened his eyes, confusion coloring his features as he tried to get his bearings. The warm pressure on his side caused him to turn his head and see Andy, sleeping peacefully curled up into his side. She was snoring lightly which only made Nick smile. Hesitantly, he reached out and lightly brushed some stray strands of her chestnut hair away from her face before gently laying a hand on her arm.

She stirred but didn't wake up as she snuggled even closer to him. Being close to her like this made him physically ache. He watched her sleep as Gail's words from earlier echoed in his mind.

_How long were you going to keep lying to me? And yourself?_

He had admitted, out loud, that he had feelings for Andy. To Gail. Eluding to said feelings to the therapist had been one thing because she would never utter a word and while she might bring them up again in another session but she had been more focused on his parents and how that affected the man that he was than his feelings for a woman who was not his girlfriend. Admitting to liking – _loving?_ – Andy to Gail changed everything. He couldn't deny it anymore. Whatever he felt for Andy was very real and, as proven by the last couple of months, it wasn't going anywhere.

Lately, he couldn't discount every thought and feeling he had for Andy as nothing more than a crush. It didn't matter if he had a good day or a bad day; it was Andy that he wanted to share it with. It hurt to admit that, but it was true. He loved seeing her face light up when he made her smile. He loved hearing her contagious laugh.

It had surprised him when she had told him that she was happy when they were sitting in the squad car earlier in the day. He had wondered if that was really true. He hoped it was. If not, then he wanted to make it true.

Tearing his eyes away from Andy, he glanced at the clock on the cable box and saw that it was nearly four o'clock in the morning. He looked back down at Andy's sleeping form. As much as he would love to spend the rest of the night with her tucked into his side, he knew that she would be paying for it in the morning with a stiff neck and back. Twisting just enough, he supported her body with his right arm while his left arm slipped under her legs that were dangling off the edge of the couch. He lifted her gently off the couch and stood up with her in his arms.

As he carried her towards the hall and to her bedroom, her eyes opened slowly and she looked up at him bleary-eyed. "Nick?"

"Just like old times," he smiled down at her, referencing the nights that he had carried her to bed after she had passed out on the couch when they were undercover.

"Mm hmm," she nodded before laying her head back down on his shoulder sleepily. Reaching the edge of her bed, he lowered her down slowly onto it. He grabbed the comforter that was down by her feet and pulled it over her.

"Good night, Andy," he told her softly, bending down and brushing his lips against her forehead. He started to walk away when Andy's hand grabbed his own causing Nick to turn around and look at her.

"Stay," she said her voice gravelly with sleep. "It's late. You should stay."

He thought about arguing with her but he _was_ tired and her couch was calling his name. "Okay," he agreed. Reaching next to her, Andy grabbed the other pillow that she wasn't using and handed it to Nick. "Thanks. I'll see you in the morning."

"Night," she replied with a smile before closing her eyes once more.

Making his way back out to the living room, Nick threw the pillow on one end of the couch and grabbed a fleece blanket from the basket next to the couch before collapsing onto it, exhausted. He adjusted the pillow a bit to get more comfortable then closed his eyes. As he breathed in he realized that the pillow smelled like Andy and smiled.

* * *

Andy awoke the next morning to the glorious scent of something delicious being cooked in her kitchen. A small smile crept up on her lips as she thought about all of the mornings when they had been undercover that she had woken up this very same way. Hopping out of bed, she started to make her way to the kitchen but stopped for a second as she passed by her dresser mirror.

Her hair was a mess so she grabbed a hair band off of her dresser and pulled her hair up in a slightly messy ponytail. Satisfied with the result she walked out of her bedroom and made her way to the kitchen. Nick was so busy at her stove that he didn't even hear her come into the kitchen. "Morning," she greeted.

Nick turned around, grinning. "Morning," he returned.

"What are you making?" Andy asked, moving to stand beside him by the stove.

"Our favorite omelet," he replied. "I made a pot of coffee if you want some."

"I _need_ some." She went over to the coffee pot where he already had a clean cup waiting for her. After pouring the steaming black liquid into her cup, she added some sugar and half-and-half that Nick had left on the counter.

He looked over at her as she sat down at the table, sipping on her cup of coffee. "Thanks for letting me stay here last night. I figured cooking you breakfast was the least I could do," he explained as he rested his hands on either side of him and leaned back against the counter next to the stove.

"You know you're welcome here any time," she told him before lifting her mug to her lips. "What would have done with breakfast if I hadn't woken up just now?" she wondered with a smirk, waving her hand towards the omelets that she had seen were nearly done. Nick raised his eyebrows and responded with a smirk of his own. "What?" she asked.

"I know you, Andy McNally and the smell of food gets you every time," he quipped.

"I am slightly offended by that comment," she told him, narrowing her eyes jokingly. He chuckled as he turned away from her to grab the two plates that he had set on the counter before she had come into the kitchen. "This is the part that I miss about undercover."

Nick did his best not to overreact to what he was sure was a purely innocent comment. "Me cooking for you?" he teased.

"Well, obviously _that_, but also getting to hang out all the time." He turned his head to look at her. "It was fun," she said, her smile reached her eyes over the top of her mug as she took a sip of her coffee.

"I'm gonna have a lot more free time on my hands now," he told her with a wry expression as he brought both of their plates over to the table.

"Then we're just going to have to fix that," Andy replied setting her mug down on the table. "As your break-up buddy I am not about to let you sit your ass at home so I don't care what we do tonight but we're going out. Got it?"

Sitting down at the table, Nick smiled and nodded. "Yeah, got it."

* * *

**Author's Note 2: **I tried to think of different ways and places to handle Nick telling Andy about his break-up since I can think of at least one fic that has him showing up at Andy's door, but at the end of the day, this was the only thing that fit my vision of them so I had to go with it.


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's Note: **So at the end of last week's episode, they played a wonderful song by City and Colour called "Little Hell". Well, as of Saturday I still had zero idea as to what in the hell this chapter was going to be about... until I heard City and Colour's "We Found Each Other In the Dark" which basically inspired this entire chapter. You guys continue to amaze me and make my day with your reviews, favorites and follows. Hopefully you guys enjoy the develops in this chapter!

* * *

Nick released Andy from the headlock he had her in as they walked out the front doors of 15, both of them still chuckling. "Where are you headed?" he asked as they made their way closer to where his truck was parked in the lot.

"Home," she replied. "Hopefully, I'll be able to sleep some of last night's embarrassment away." They both laughed again as they thought about Oliver walking through the division with the mannequin. It was going to be awhile before everyone forgot about their call for back-up because of a noisy empty building and a closet with some mannequins inside of it.

"Do you wanna ride?" Nick asked, nodding his head towards his truck.

Andy shrugged her shoulders. "Sure." Walking around to the passenger side with her, Nick unlocked the door and opened it for her. "Such a gentleman," she teased as she tossed her bag on the floor and hoisted herself up inside the vehicle.

As Nick walked around to the other side of his truck, he thought about how close he had been just a few minutes earlier to admitting his feelings to Andy before she had startled him. Now that he had time to think about it, he wasn't so sure that it was a good idea to tell Andy right now. After all, it had only been less than a week since his break-up with Gail and, as evidenced by what happened before shift, she was still trying to get him to talk to her. She had called him and texted him a few times since they had broken up. Hopefully, today she finally got the message that he wasn't interested in whatever it was that she had to say. It was over. _They_ were over.

Tossing his own bag in the back as he opened the driver's side door, he stepped up and slid into his seat. He put his keys in the ignition and turned them to start the engine. "Do you mind taking a little detour on the way to my place?" Andy asked as Nick put his truck in 'Drive'.

"Might this detour include food because I'm starving," he responded, his stomach growling at the mere thought of food.

She grinned at him. "You just read my mind, Nick Collins."

* * *

Nick and Andy sat at a table next to the windows at Lady Marmalade, both surveying their menus. "I'm going with the A.M. Poutine," Nick said, laying his menu down on the table.

"Way to clog your arteries," Andy remarked with a raise of her eyebrows.

"Hey, I don't judge you for your food choices," he returned good-naturedly.

"Uh, you might wanna look at the menu again because it says that you can't have that on weekends," she pointed out.

"Seriously?" he groaned, looking down at his menu again. "Fine, then it's the Poached Egg BLT." He looked up as the waitress brought over two cups of coffee, setting them down in front of him and Andy.

"Are you ready to order?" the waitress asked, looking at both Nick and Andy.

Andy was still studying the menu so Nick answered for them. "We'll need a couple of minutes." The waitress nodded and headed over to one of her other tables.

"I'm so torn," Andy whined, setting her menu down dramatically. "Crepe or burrito?"

"Is that really a question?" he smirked at her, knowing her affinity for the food. "I thought it was one of the main food groups. You know, dairy, starch, protein, burrito…"

"So I happen to like burritos," she replied defensively but still smiled at him. Andy looked down and re-read the description of the Huevos Rancheritos, and it did sound absolutely heavenly. "I think I have a problem but I'm getting it anyways." Nodding her head resolutely, she reached over and grabbed the little silver jar of creamer that their waitress had set on their table. "So…I didn't want to tell you this earlier but I talked to Gail after parade yesterday," she told him, dumping a small packet of sugar in her coffee.

The smile that Nick had had just a split second earlier was replaced by a frown. "What'd she have to say?" He knew that Andy wouldn't bring it up if Gail hadn't said or done something.

"She was pretty bitchy when I tried to ask her if she was okay." Andy had hoped that she and Gail were good enough friends for Gail to at least ask Andy if something had happened or was going on between her and Nick. "She wouldn't even really talk to me and then she pretty much told me to leave by telling me that you were waiting for me."

Shaking his head in disbelief, he sipped his coffee before setting it back down on the table. "Andy, I'm sorry that you're caught in the middle," he apologized. His biggest regret in all of this was that his feelings for Andy might have permanently damaged her friendship with Gail. He knew she wasn't Andy's best friend, that was him and Traci, but he knew they were close enough and had been through a lot since their rookie year.

Andy shrugged her shoulders, the corners of her mouth turned down in slight frown as she thought about Gail. "She could talk to me if she wanted to," she replied, thinking that maybe she and Gail weren't as good of friends as she had once thought.

Just then their waitress came over to their table to take their order. Nick raised his hand towards Andy indicating that she should order first. After they both gave the waitress their order and she had walked away, Nick said, "I'm sure the two of us hanging out doesn't help."

"I'm not going to stop hanging out with you just because Gail seems to have a problem with it," she stated matter-of-factly. "You're my friend too."

There she went using the f-word again. _Friends_. He was starting to hate that word. It was like a punch to the gut every single time. How long was the appropriate time to wait after you had just broken up with your girlfriend to tell your best friend that you had fallen for them? Less than a week? A couple weeks? A couple of months? Never?

"And I'm your break-up buddy," her voice broke into his thoughts.

He nodded in affirmation. "An excellent one, I might add," he smiled at her.

Andy just grinned at his statement. She liked being with Nick. They always seemed to have fun no matter what they were doing, managing to make each other smile and laugh on a regular basis. She had never had a relationship of any kind with a guy, friendship or otherwise, quite like what she had with Nick. It was refreshing. "So does that mean that you would be up for going out tonight?"

"Maybe," he smiled. "What'd you have in mind?"

"I kind of wanted to go see a band. I was thinking maybe Dakota Tavern," she replied, pulling out her phone. "Or there's always Hugh's Room or the Horseshoe Tavern."

Nick honestly didn't care where they went or what they listened to; he just wanted to spend time with Andy. "I'm good with Dakota," he told her as she studied her phone then looked up at him excitedly.

"We're going to the Phoenix. City and Colour is playing there tonight," Andy exclaimed. "I'm going to buy us tickets before they sell out." She hoped that it wasn't sold out already.

"Do you want to go somewhere and grab dinner first?" He smiled as he thought about the fact that they were sitting at a table waiting for their breakfast and he was asking about dinner.

Andy looked at him excitedly as she thought about dinner. "There's this great Mexican restaurant that I haven't been to in ages that I really want to go to," she said.

"You do realize that you're having Mexican for breakfast, right?" he pointed out.

"So?" Andy shrugged, looking at him like he was the strange one. Nick just shook his head and chuckled at her response.

* * *

Andy stood in her closet surveying all of her clothes, debating what she wanted to wear. She was just hanging out with Nick, not going on a date, so she didn't understand why she had changed outfits five times already. She leaned over and stuck her head out of her closet to check the time. He would be at her place in less than thirty minutes. It was a good thing that her hair was already done because at the rate she was going it would take that long to figure out what to wear.

She grabbed a pair of her darkest skinny jeans off of their hanger on the bottom rack in her closet and tossed them on her bed. Looking up, she began to rifle through the rack above to find a top that she loved. "Nope," she said wrinkling her nose at a blue shirt she came across. It continued much the same for the next six shirts until she stopped on an emerald green three-quarter sleeved light sweater that draped low in the back. Tugging it down she walked back into her bedroom and pulled off the skirt that she was currently wearing along with the red top that she had on.

Once she had put on the top and pulled the jeans on, she stepped back to survey her outfit in the mirror and twisted around to see the back. She smiled, finally satisfied with her choice. All that was left was deciding what shoes to wear. After spending twenty minutes trying on various shoes and boots, she eventually went with her original choice of black leather knee-high boots. Andy glanced back into her closet as she walked to her bathroom to put the finishing touches on her makeup and groaned at the disaster that would need to be cleaned up later.

Five minutes later, she had just finished her lipstick when she heard a knock on her front door. Flipping off the bathroom light, she made her way to the living room so she could let Nick inside. She opened the door and greeted Nick with a smile. "Let me grab my jacket," Andy told him as he walked into her apartment. Rushing over to her coat closet, she grabbed her black leather jacket and threw it on quickly.

"You look nice," Nick complimented her as she walked back over to where he was standing.

"I spend all this time getting ready and all I get is 'nice'?" she teased, grinning at him.

"I was going to say beautiful but I thought that might be laying it on a little thick," he joked which earned him a smack in his chest with the back of her hand as they walked out into the hallway.

"You're such a jerk," she laughed, shutting her door and locking it behind them.

Minutes later, they were both buckled in and ready to head to dinner but Nick paused for a moment after he had cranked the engine. "Andy," he said, getting her attention. She turned her head only to see him gazing at her intently. "You look beautiful."

The earnestness in his tone and the way he was looking at her made a slight blush creep into her cheeks and she was grateful that it was relatively dark in the truck. "Thanks," she replied as he looked away from her to shift his truck into gear. She tried her best not to notice how her heart was beating a little faster.

* * *

Things were back to normal between Nick and Andy as they had eaten dinner, and Andy had started to think that maybe she had been making too much of what had happened as they had left her place. They had arrived a little early at the Phoenix to try and get a decent spot since their tickets for the concert were general admission. Once they had found a satisfactory spot slightly to the left side and about halfway to the stage, Nick went to get them both drinks, a beer for him and a vodka and soda for her, and when he came back they chatted for a while as they waited for the show to begin.

When the house lights went down everyone started to cheer including Nick and Andy. The concert hall was filled with the sounds of an upbeat tempo as the band began to play. Soon Dallas Green's flawless vocals boomed from the speakers on either side of the stage. Andy moved to the beat and noticed Nick doing the same beside her.

About thirty minutes into the show, Nick decided he needed something to drink. He leaned close to Andy and said loudly, "I'm gonna go get a water. Do you want another drink?" Andy nodded and smiled in affirmation as she turned to look at him. He mouthed that he would be back and disappeared through the crowd.

Not more than five minutes later, he was beside her once again and handing her another vodka and soda. She'd had a large margarita at dinner and was definitely starting to feel the effects of the drinks that she'd had so far. It wasn't like she had to work the next day so she was going to enjoy herself.

Nick threw his arm around her shoulder as they swayed to a melancholy yet melodic beat. As he listened to the song, he could have sworn that "Two Coins" was written about him. Instinctively, Nick's hold on Andy tightened as he heard Dallas Green sing _I'm looking for a reason, for a reason not to run _almost like Nick himself had said those words_. _It made him think about his conversation with the division therapist a few weeks ago. He had mused about if he had been with Andy, how he wasn't sure if he would've wanted to run just like he had with Gail but he had known better. With Gail, everything in him had told him to run away as fast as he could even when he had come to 15. But with Andy…he wanted to stand still.

Looking up, Andy watched Nick's facial expressions as he listened to the song and wondered what he was thinking about. She wrapped her arm around his back and held on to him just as tightly as he was holding on to her. They stayed that way until the next song began and it was another up tempo song that made them both want to dance a little bit.

About an hour into the show, Nick went to get both of them another drink. It had only been one song, granted it was a long song but still just a song, since he had left when Andy felt an arm slide over her left shoulder as Nick came up behind her, squeezing into the tight space that they were standing in. She grinned up at him over her shoulder as she took the vodka and soda out of his hand that was dangling in front of her. Andy had expected him to shift positions and stand beside her once again after she had taken her drink from him, but he stayed where he was. She found that she liked the heaviness of the weight of his arm on her shoulder.

There had been one song that Andy had been waiting to hear all night and she beamed as Dallas Green began the opening verse of "We Found Each Other In the Dark" a capella.

_I heard the church bells from afar… _

As the song continued, Andy leaned back against Nick's chest, as if it were the most natural thing in the world for her to do, and gently began to sway to the beat. Nick reflexively wrapped the arm that had been resting loosely on her left shoulder around Andy, and gripped her right shoulder with his hand as he swayed with her. Andy's free hand came up to grasp his forearm as she felt Nick rest his cheek against the top of her head.

Nick was a great guy and when they had been undercover, she had felt safe when he had wrapped his arms around her but this… It was different. She was taken aback by how much she enjoyed the feeling of being so close to him. Her eyes fluttered shut as she focused on the music and caught a faint whiff of his cologne, the same cologne that she had helped him pick out when they were undercover. Her thoughts betrayed her as she remembered the last time that Nick had kissed her. The way he had cupped her face in his hands. The softness of his lips contrasted with the firm pressure of his kiss. How she had liked the way his scruffy beard had lightly scratched against her chin. Andy's eyes shot open, but she didn't move away from Nick.

_Did she…? No, he was her friend_, she told herself. She glanced down at the drink in her hand. Andy chalked it up to being a combination of the alcohol, the closeness of the handsome man who had become one of her best friends and the beautifully romantic song that was coming to an end. Her rationalization made sense to her, but then the song ended and Nick released his hold on her and as they both clapped, Andy suddenly missed the contact.

* * *

It was late when they got back to Andy's so Nick had insisted on walking her to her door. She had protested that she was a cop to which he had pointed out that she was a drunk cop. She couldn't really argue with that.

"Where are your keys?" Nick asked as they rode up the elevator.

Andy opened her purse and looked inside, rummaging around trying to find them and thinking that she definitely needed to clean her purse out one of these days. She was about to give up her search when she felt the end of her key chain and pulled them out of her purse triumphantly causing Nick to laugh.

He followed her out of the elevator as the doors opened and they made their way down the hallway to her door. Andy fumbled with the keys and the lock for a second before Nick held out his hand for her to give them to him. He smiled at the look of annoyance on her face as he unlocked the door on the first try. Taking the key out of the lock, he handed them back to Andy before turning the knob on the door and opening it for her.

"Andy, I…" he started. The way he was looking at her, it reminded her of earlier when he had told her how beautiful she looked. "I had fun tonight." Andy wasn't sure what she had been expecting him to say but it wasn't that.

"Me too," she echoed.

They stood in her doorway for a moment before Nick spoke again. "So, um, Frank and Noelle's wedding is coming up and I was thinking that maybe we could go together?" he asked.

Andy grinned up at him, "Sure."

Nick nodded and smiled back before asking, "Are you sure you're going to be okay tonight?"

She knew that she probably should have foregone that last drink that had definitely placed her firmly in the 'drunk' category but she had been having fun. "Yep," she told him.

At that, he wrapped his arms around her lower back in tight hug pulling her into him so she was standing on her tiptoes. Andy snaked her arms around his neck, holding onto him just as tightly. She sighed softly as she closed her eyes and enjoyed the feeling of being in his arms. When he pressed his lips against her cheek, she felt tingles go and down her spine. "Good night," he said softly before he let go of her.

"'Night," Andy returned as she backed into her apartment. He waved then turned and headed for the elevator. Shutting the door, Andy leaned back against it and let her head drop back as she did her best not to think about the man out in the hall. She was so confused. It was like she had opened the floodgates where Nick was concerned and she wondered if she would be able to close them again.


	8. Chapter 8

**Author's Note: **I tried desparately to get this posted before the new episode tonight but failed b/c of stupid real-life things. :) It's also hard to edit a chapter when you can't stop fangirling over the AMAZING McCollins that we had in this episode. As I do at the start of every chapter, I want to thank all of you wonderful readers for leaving me reviews, following and favoriting this fic. Hopefully this chapter just gives you even more McCollins feels after tonight's episode. Enjoy!

* * *

Andy stood there at Frank and Noelle's wedding reception, watching Nick walk away and couldn't help but smile. When she had woken up that morning she had figured that she would have an easy shift, go get her hair done, get changed, Nick would pick her up and they would go to the wedding.

Instead they'd had a bus full of old people get robbed, spent all afternoon investigating and when it finally looked they were going to be able to wrap up the case and get to the wedding on time, they ended up having to wait for the perp to come down off of a seventy-foot tower. It was what happened while they were waiting out the suspect that had shifted Andy's world from its axis.

Ever since the night that they had gone to the City and Colour concert Andy had done her best to pretend like there was nothing more than friendship between her and Nick. She had tried to ignore the way her heart skipped a beat when he looked at her like she was the only person in the room. Or she tried to not take notice of the way it was like a jolt of electricity whenever he let his touch linger a little too long.

But tonight in the squad car, Nick had changed the game for both of them. It was out there and neither of them could take it back. She watched as Nick talked to Dov and Chloe, a soft smile forming on her lips. She didn't want to take it back. When he had told her that he wasn't going anywhere and he had all the time in the world, she trusted him. She _believed_ him.

After everything that had happened over the last year, Andy had begun to wonder if she could trust enough to open her heart again. Looking back, he was the one that had gotten her to trust again simply by being a wonderful friend and an even more amazing man.

Tearing her eyes away from him, she searched the room until she found Traci standing with Steve Peck near the food. The apple that she and Nick had shared earlier had been enough to tide her over for a short while but she was starving. Andy made her way across the room and over to the buffet table that Traci and Steve were standing by. "Andy!" Traci cried, throwing her arms around her friend.

Steve smiled at Andy over Traci's shoulder. "McNally," he greeted. She smiled in return.

Andy's brow furrowed as she pulled back and noticed for the first time that Traci was in jeans. "Where's your dress?" Andy asked.

Traci sighed. "Long story…but with a happy ending. I'll tell you later," she said. "What happened to you tonight?"

As Andy thought about her night, she couldn't help but smile. "Also a long story but we got the guy," Andy answered.

"I know that smile Andy McNally." Traci raised an eyebrow as she looked at Andy. "Spill."

Steve took that as his cue that maybe he should leave the friends to chat by themselves for a little bit so he said, "I'm going to go get a drink at the bar. Would you two ladies like a glass of champagne?"

"That would be great," Andy replied with a grateful smile. She didn't fail to notice the look that passed between Traci and Steve as he left to go to the bar. "What's going on there?"

"Nuh uh," Traci said. She wasn't going to let Andy dodge the question. "You have a look," she smiled. "Did something happen with Sam?"

Andy's head recoiled as she scrunched up her face. "What? No," Andy told her. "It has nothing to do with Sam."

"So then what – or _who_ – has you looking so happy?" Traci grinned at Andy.

She hadn't really planned on telling anyone what had happened with Nick earlier that evening. Hell, she was still trying to figure things out in her own head. As she thought about it, she realized that maybe Traci could help her. Looking around to make sure that no one was within earshot, Andy leaned over and said softly, "Nick."

"Nick?" she asked with a raise of her eyebrows. "As in Collins?" Andy nodded in affirmation. "What happened?"

Biting her lip slightly, Andy fidgeted as she thought about where to start. She turned her head in the general direction of where she had last seen Nick and locked eyes with him. His mouth turned up in a small smile before he looked away again.

"Okay, now I saw _that_," Traci said, pulling Andy's attention back to her. "Is there something going on with you two?"

Andy shrugged in response. "I don't know. Maybe," she paused momentarily to take a deep breath. "It was amazing Trace, he knew how much I wanted to be at the wedding so he called Dov so that I could hear the exchange of the vows."

Traci had to smile at that.

"I got choked up and I was telling him how wedding vows get more and more magical every time I hear them and then he told me that that is how feels about me," Andy told her.

"He said you were magical?" she asked, her mouth gaping slightly.

"Yeah, pretty much," Andy said with a shrug of her shoulders.

"Andy…" Traci grinned broadly which only made Andy She was happy for her friend. Traci knew that it could get complicated with Gail but her best friend deserved to find happiness and if she found it with Nick Collins then she would support her all the way. "How do you feel?" It was an important question.

"I like him," Andy admitted with a shrug of her shoulders. "I told him that I needed some time to sort things out."

"Like Gail," vocalizing what they had both been thinking.

Andy nodded in response. "I just don't know if she'd forgive me," Andy mused, looking in the direction of Gail who was laughing and dancing with some woman with dark hair that Andy had never seen before.

"Probably not," Traci answered honestly.

"Thanks, Trace," Andy sighed with exasperation.

Traci shrugged. She knew that Andy wasn't telling her about her and Nick because she wanted her to tell her that everything would be fine. Andy knew better than to expect that from her. She wanted Traci's honesty. "It's the truth."

"I know." Andy looked away from her and grabbed one of the cake pops in front of her, taking a large bite out of it.

Traci thought Andy had the right idea and reached for her second cake pop of the night. "So what else is holding you back?"

"He's one of my best friends and we're partners and…" Andy trailed off looking away from Traci and down at the table full of food for a moment. Her friendship with Nick had become one of the single-most important relationships in her life and with two failed relationships at 15 already, she couldn't help but worry that she could lose that one day.

Traci looked at Andy sympathetically and knew that her friend had a lot to think about. "If there's one thing that I've learned over the last year, Andy, it's that life is too short." She looked at Nick who was laughing with Dov at something Chloe had just said. "Sometimes," she turned her attention back to Andy, "it's worth the risk."

Andy smiled appreciatively at Traci. "Thanks." Wanting to turn the focus off of herself Andy said, "So you and Steve Peck, huh?"

"We are just friends and colleagues," Traci stated but she was unable to keep from grinning.

"Traci Nash, you have a crush," Andy teased, giving Traci a light push.

* * *

Four ample glasses of champagne and enough food that Andy was sure she could skip a couple of meals the next day later, Andy managed to drag Traci and Steve out onto the dance floor with her. As they danced in their small group, Andy glanced over at Nick who was talking to some guys from the division. She knew that she had asked him to give her time and that she shouldn't do anything to confuse the situation but she wanted nothing more in that moment but to dance with him. Debating with herself for a moment, she finally decided that when the next slow song came on she was going to ask him to dance.

She didn't have to wait long as less than a minute later the DJ began to play a long intro to Ed Sheeran's 'Kiss Me'. As Nick heard the song, he turned his head in her direction and gazed at her for a brief moment before he returned his focus to the conversation that he and the other guys were having. Andy's heart began to beat wildly in her chest as she made her way through the crowd on the dance floor and towards him. "Nick," she said as she walked up to him.

He turned his attention away from the guys at the sound of her voice and smiled at her.

"Dance with me?" she asked, deciding that direct was best.

"Of course," he responded. Laying his drink down on a nearby table, he followed her to the dance floor. He did his best not to read too much into the fact that not only did she want to dance with him but she wanted to dance with him to _this_ song. He was failing miserably.

She came to a stop as she found a small area that they could dance in and he slid his hand around her waist, pulling her closer to him. As he held out his other hand, she took hold of it without hesitation and gave his hand a light squeeze.

They held each other's gaze as they danced wordlessly. There was an intensity that made Andy slightly breathless. Reaching up with her left hand, Andy grabbed onto the back of Nick's shoulder as she moved her head so they were dancing almost cheek-to-cheek. She wasn't sure if that had been a good idea or not as she could lightly feel Nick's breath against her neck and could smell the wonderful scent of his cologne. Andy knew that Gail was on the opposite side of the dance floor with her friend and that Sam was probably still at the bar where he seemed to have been camped for most of the night, but it was like they were both faint thoughts in her head as all she seemed to be able to focus on was how it felt to be in Nick's arms like this. This wasn't an act where they were pretending to be a couple, it was real and it surprised Andy by how right it really did feel.

She felt Nick move the hand that was holding hers just enough to where his thumb was cradled in the palm of her hand before he applied light pressure and gently squeezed her hand. Andy shifted her hand in response as she allowed her hand to caress his ever so slightly. Closing her eyes, she enjoyed the feeling of their hands moving slowly against each other as if they were doing a dance of their own before their fingers finally interlaced.

"Does this mean…" he asked, his voice trailing off as he allowed his head to rest slightly against hers.

Andy sighed, more contentment than frustration. "I don't know," she answered honestly. "I just wanted to dance with you." She felt him nod as they went back to dancing in comfortable silence. With the way that it felt having him holding her in his arms and how, with her eyes closed, she could swear that they were the only two people in the room, the doubts and the fears that were holding her back seemed to melt away.

It all seemed so clear. Gail would be mad at first but eventually they could move past it. The friendship that she and Nick had built was solid and she knew that no matter what that would always be there. She could finally open her heart completely again.

But then the song came to an end and Andy opened her eyes and the rest of the world came rushing back and the simplicity of being with someone who made her happy wasn't so simple.

They had just let go of one another when Nick heard the DJ start to play Robin Thicke's 'Blurred Lines', so he grabbed Andy's hand and spun her around before pulling her back towards him and holding their joined hands together above their heads as they started to dance.

The dance floor quickly filled up with what seemed to be everyone at the wedding reception and Andy grinned as Traci and Steve made their way over to where Nick and Andy were dancing. The reception hall echoed with the words of the song as almost everyone on the dance floor sang along with the chorus. This was what she had been hoping for when her day had started; having fun with her two best friends as they all celebrated Frank and Noelle.

Traci shook her ass in Andy's direction and Andy smacked it causing them both to laugh. Turning around, Andy faced Nick and grinned as they continued to dance. She reached up, grabbing his face and playfully moving his head as they sang "Hey, hey, hey." They both laughed before she turned back around towards Traci again, dancing goofily.

Behind her, Andy could just barely feel Nick as he did his best not to grind on her. Deciding that needed to change, she backed up ever so slightly until her body connected with his. Nick's hand came up to rest low on her hip as they moved together. Andy pretended like she didn't see Traci's raised eyebrows and huge knowing grin as she danced with Nick.

* * *

"McNally," Sam greeted Andy as she stood at the bar waiting on her glass of champagne. "You looked like you were having fun out there."

If this had been three months ago, she would have been happy that he had apparently been watching her but a lot had changed since she had decided that chasing after a man who was in a relationship was not the person that she wanted to be. His words made her feel awkward and not the good kind of awkward that she had become accustomed to over the years. "Yeah, I was," she replied, wondering if her smile looked as strange as it felt. "I heard that Frank promoted you to Best Man."

"He did," he answered before taking a sip of his whiskey. "So you missed the wedding."

"Yeah, well, we had a perp to catch," she said, grabbing the glass of champagne that the bartender had just set in front of her. "I got to hear Frank and Noelle get married though."

"Oh yeah?" he asked with a raise of his eyebrows.

She nodded. "Nick called Dov and we listened in our squad car," she told him. Her eyes darted over to Nick who was congratulating Frank and Noelle.

Ever the cop, Sam turned his head in the direction that Andy had just looked. "Well, isn't that sweet, McNally." The smirk on his face telegraphing the fact that he didn't think it was sweet at all.

Had it really only been earlier that day that she had told him that she would save a dance for him? It felt like a lifetime ago. "So how's Marlo enjoying Miami?" she asked, deciding to give him a dose of reality. It had the desired effect as it wiped the smirk right off his face.

"Uh, I'm not sure," he responded before picking up his drink once again and taking a swig of whiskey.

"Maybe you should give her a call," she told him as she stepped away from the bar and smiled. "Have a good night Sam."

* * *

"I'm pretty sure Chloe was ready to tackle one of us if we had caught Noelle's bouquet instead of her," Andy remarked as Nick drove her back to her house. "Oh, and did you see her face when Dov caught the garter?"

Nick glanced over at Andy and smiled. "I thought she was going to tackle _him_."

Andy laughed. "I'm pretty sure that she started planning their wedding when that happened."

"I think she was planning that long before tonight," he quipped.

"True," Andy agreed with a giggle.

"Did you have fun tonight?" he asked, turning down her street.

Nodding her head, Andy answered, "I did. You?"

"Yeah," he replied. Coming to a stop just outside the front of Andy's building, he put his truck in 'Park' and let it idle. "It's late. Do you want me to walk you to your door?" he asked. He realized how that sounded given the feelings that he had expressed for her hours earlier and hoped that she would take it as the chivalric comment that it was meant to be and not him trying to get her to invite him up to her apartment. He knew that despite the flirtatiousness at the wedding reception that she wasn't ready to make a decision about them.

"I'll be fine," she smiled at him warmly. "Thanks though." He shrugged in response. Silence fell over them. Andy was the first to speak again. "Thank you for tonight." She hoped that he understood that she was talking about, not just the wedding reception but what he had done for her in the car so that she could feel like she was at the wedding ceremony.

"You're welcome," he replied, his smile reaching his eyes.

They both leaned over and gave each other a long hug. Before pulling away, Andy turned her head so she could place a kiss on Nick's cheek and ended up dangerously close to his lips. Her heart started pounding and her breath quickened as she thought about how if she just moved her head slightly, she could kiss him. Instead she pulled away slowly and saw a look in Nick's eyes that told her that he wished that she had done just that. She took a deep breath as she opened the car door. "Good night," she told him before getting out of his truck.

"Good night, Andy." He smiled warmly as she shut the passenger side door and watched as she walked to the front of her building to go inside. Turning around as she got to the door, she smiled and waved at him one last time before going inside.

* * *

It had been a week since Frank and Noelle's wedding and Nick Collins had occupied Andy's thoughts nearly every moment of the day since then. They saw each other at work all the time but they hadn't hung out since that night and she really missed her best friend.

Andy held her phone in one hand and a hot cup of coffee in the other. She was meeting Chris and Denise in forty-five minutes to pick up Christian so they could get settled in at Dov and Gail's for the weekend. Andy debated with herself about calling Nick and seeing if he wanted to meet her after she picked up Christian. It was a safe and benign activity that two friends would do, she told herself before finding Nick in her contact list and calling him. She drummed her fingers on the coffee mug nervously as she waited for him to answer.

"Hey," he answered after the third ring.

"Hi," she greeted him, suddenly a little unsure of herself. "So, um, I'm picking Christian up from Chris and Denise in a little bit and was wondering if you would want to meet us at the playground near my place in an hour?"

"Sure."

"Great, um… Okay, I'll see you in a little bit," she told him, unable to stop herself from grinning.

"Sounds good," Nick replied then hung up.

Setting her phone down, Andy grasped her coffee mug with both of her hands and slowly sipped the still steaming liquid. She really hoped that today would provide her with the clarity that she needed.


	9. Chapter 9

**Author's Note: ** First, I have to apologize for the delay in posting this chapter. Work (stupid real-life LOL) has been kicking my ass over the last couple of weeks and I haven't had as much free time at night to write like I normally would. Also, in case you didn't notice, the rating for this fic has now changed with this chapter to 'M' which means that there's a bit of smut in this chapter. I get a little stressed out when posting smut b/c I worry about it living up to anyone's expectations which may or may not have been a big reason for the delay in posting... Anyways, I was completely inspired by the amazing end to episode 4x09 and I'm so excited to see these two try to figure things out over the coming weeks. As with every chapter, you guys know how much I love getting your feedback so let me know what you think! Enjoy!

* * *

Andy stood there in her hallway watching Nick walk away. She had been unable to hide her disappointment when he had told her how she was right about all of the problems that came with pursuing the ever growing feelings between them. It had seemed so sensible when she had done the very same thing earlier that morning when they were getting ready to leave the park, despite the wonderful ache in her chest as she had seen the way he was with Christian and caught a glimpse of what a future with him could possibly look like.

It was what happened after the park and Christian's kidnapping that had made her see what a good man Nick Collins really was, and had also made her seriously question if all of her reasons to maintain the friendship and colleague status quo between her and Nick were valid.

It wasn't that she hadn't known how great he was because she had. You didn't spend six months living with someone and not know something like that but a crisis tended to bring out the worst in people; the side of someone that they very rarely let others see.

When she had started freaking out at the park, Nick had been by her side in an instant and had helped calm her down enough to get her to start going to the neighbors houses with him to see if they had seen anything. He had been by her side again, supporting her as she was questioned about Christian and his disappearance. When Sam had come down on her and made her feel like complete shit for Christian being kidnapped while in her care, he had reassured her that it wasn't her fault. She had even heard him admonish Sam for being hard on her. Then when it looked like they weren't going to get anywhere with the tip line, he had been the one to help her get her head back in the game and focus on the fact that all it would take was one tip in a sea of hundreds for them to find Christian. He had even waited at her front door just so he could check on her and make sure that she was okay after the gut wrenching day that they had all had.

If all those things hadn't been enough, he had then proceeded to tell her that even though the risks were there, she was worth it. That she was the most amazing person that he'd ever met and that he would continue to wait for her however long that might take. He hadn't told her those things because her life was in danger or he wanted to make up for a mistake or get her back after breaking her heart into a million pieces. He had simply wanted her to know how he felt about her, no expectations.

She thought about calling out his name to stop him from walking away when he groaned and stopped before he could round the corner of her hallway. Andy's heart skipped a beat as he turned around with a sheepish grin on his face

"Also, I forgot to give you this," he told her, pulling out her phone from his back pocket. Andy smiled warmly at him in response as he walked towards her. "I, uh, picked it up at the hospital."

Reaching out, she took her phone from him. "Thank you," she said, still smiling at how adorable he was even when he was being awkward.

He sighed. "I probably should've started with that 'cause now it's… super awkward."

Andy just shook her head and chuckled slightly as she stepped closer to him. She wasn't about to let him walk away from her again.

Moving in to kiss him, Andy couldn't help but marvel that it was so like him to meet her halfway as their lips met in a soft kiss. It felt familiar in so many ways after all the times that they had kissed during the undercover op but it was also new and completely different because unlike those other kisses, they both knew that there were real feelings behind this.

He reached up with his right hand and cradled her neck as their lips broke apart briefly before he deepened the kiss. Much like his lips, it wasn't the first time that his tongue had caressed her own; after all it had been all too easy to get carried away sometimes and forget that their kisses didn't have to _be_ real in order for them to _look_ real. However, unlike those times she didn't feel the guilt for enjoying it.

When he broke their kiss again, she missed the feeling and inched her head forward in an effort to capture his lips once again. She smiled as he ever-so-slightly nuzzled his nose against hers affectionately before he was kissing her again and burying the fingers of his hand, that he had previously had braced against the wall, in her hair. It was she who thrust her tongue into his mouth this time which elicited a moan from Nick.

Reaching out, Andy gripped the sides of Nick's waist and tugged him to her so that his body was flush against hers. She loved the feeling of being pinned to the wall by his body and it only made her kiss him with even more fervor. As she felt his hands underneath her pea coat, she arched her back into his touch.

A noise that sounded from the other end of the hall broke them both out of their lust-filled haze enough to realize that any one of Andy's neighbors could come upon them making out in her hallway. Nick rested his forehead against hers as their lips broke apart, both of them breathing heavily. Andy opened her eyes only to find that Nick gazing at her, searching. Wondering if she wanted to continue what they had started. Reaching over with her left hand, she fumbled for a second before she found the doorknob and twisted.

Andy bit her lip slightly as she pushed her door open. Nick's eyes squinted slightly as he grinned broadly at her unspoken invitation. She reached out and gripped his leather jacket as she pulled him inside her apartment. Their lips collided once again as he spun them around and made quick work of her coat and scarf before she closed the door behind them. She couldn't keep the smile off of her lips as he started to unzip her shirt while they continued to kiss and she backed him further into her apartment.

They were both so lost in the moment and each other that they failed to notice that they had gone a little too far into the living room and Nick's back connected with her coat rack only to send it crashing down to the floor loudly. Andy started laughing as Nick looked back at the fallen coat rack with wide eyes.

"Sorry," he grinned as he looked back at her, holding his hands up in apology for knocking over her furniture.

Andy shook her head. "Don't worry about it." The coat rack was the last thing that Andy cared about in that moment as she said, "It's alright," then pulled Nick in for another kiss. He had too many clothes for her liking so Andy slid her hands underneath his jacket and pushed it off of his shoulders and down his arms before it got stuck causing them both to laugh. He twisted around as she tugged it all the way off of him. She tossed his jacket aside and reached for him as he stepped towards her once again, gripping the back of his head just as they heard her lamp topple to the floor and the glass bulb shatter.

Turning his head, Nick looked down at the damage they had done and then back at Andy questioningly as she shook her head to let him know to ignore it. They spun around as they started kissing again. Andy's fingers searched blindly for the bottom of Nick's shirt and they both managed to get it up and over his head much more smoothly than they had done anything since they'd made their way from the hall to the inside of Andy's place.

Nick walked her backwards until the back of her legs collided with the edge of couch and they both braced themselves for the fall. Their laughter filled the room as Nick lay on top of Andy on her couch, his arms on either side of her body. Neither one of them seemed to be able to stop smiling even as their lips came together in a sweet kiss.

As Nick pulled back slightly, Andy ran her hand up his arm, over his shoulder and held his face in her hand before he kissed her deeply, both of them seemingly craving the taste of one another. The look in his eyes nearly took her breath away as he broke the kiss. He hovered, gazing down at her but not moving. It was like he was waiting for her to let him know that this was really what she wanted. Craning her neck, Andy pressed her lips to his softly.

They shifted further down the couch together in an effort to get more comfortable since both of their legs were still dangling over the arm at the end of the couch. Both of them erupted into laughter again as their heads connected with the arm at the opposite end of Andy's couch.

Nick smiled down at her, his eyes sparkling in the dim light of her apartment. Her skin felt like it was on fire as he ghosted his fingertips across her abdomen and up her sides. Andy lifted up off of the couch slightly as he helped her take off her shirt before tossing it aside. With her shirt no longer presenting a problem, Andy realized that she had another issue. Well, two issues actually as she unsuccessfully tried to kick off her boots. Nick smirked as he saw the frustration on her face.

"Need help?" he asked before he sat up and grabbed her right foot. She grinned as he unzipped it and gently tugged it and her sock off. Bringing her hand to her mouth, she bit down lightly on her thumb as she watched a gloriously half-naked Nick take her other foot in his hand and grin at her as he removed her other boot and sock. He somehow managed to toe off his own boots and made quick work of his socks before his body was once again pressing hers into the cushions of the couch.

They embraced languidly for a moment, exploring the contours of one another's mouths. When they finally broke apart, Andy closed her eyes as his lips brushed against her neck before following the trail of his hand which had pushed the black bra strap off of her shoulder. She felt his hands underneath her back as he unhooked her bra so he could slide it completely off of her.

Her bare chest rose and fell as her breathing quickened in anticipation. He lowered his head reverently and latched his mouth onto one breast. Andy arched her back into his touch, gasping as his tongue flicked at the taut peak while his thumb brushed against the hardened nipple of her other breast. He sucked and nipped and did delicious things with his tongue, making her gasp in pleasure. She buried her fingers in his hair and panted softly as he moved to her other breast to lavish it with the same sort of attention.

Grasping his face in her hands, she tugged lightly to get his attention and pulled him back to her, needing to feel his lips on hers again. Andy slid her hands over his shoulders and wrapped her arms around his neck tightly, holding him against her body and relishing the feeling of his naked chest against her own.

As their tongues continued to dance, Nick skimmed his hands down her sides before moving them between their bodies as he undid the button and zipper of her jeans. He pushed them low on her hips, letting his hands dip inside her jeans and grazed over the lacey edges of her panties that barely covered her ass. It took every ounce of restraint he had not to yank them off of her. Andy lifted her hips off of the couch as he slid her jeans down her legs and took them off.

Sitting up, she smiled flirtatiously as he tossed her jeans to the side. She shifted towards the end of couch where Nick was sitting and straddled his hips, neither one of them moving for a moment. Nick gently brushed some of her hair away from her face before he cupped her cheek in his hand. He had wanted this for so long and being with Andy like this almost didn't seem real, but seeing her look at him the way that she was at that moment let him know that this was real because his imagination could never come close to conjuring up something so perfect.

Andy let her fingers brush down his abdomen before grabbing the button on his jeans and undoing it. Her hands continued in their quest to rid him of his pants as she gripped the zipper and tugged it down. Lifting up on her knees, Andy grabbed the waistband of his jeans and with a little help from Nick managed to get them off of him enough so that he could kick them off to the side to join the growing pile of clothes scattered around her living room.

Glancing down, Andy could see Nick's hardened erection straining against the blue fabric of his boxer briefs and rested her forehead against his as she ground herself against him. She looked up at him through her lashes as she rocked her hips into his again, enjoying the friction of the movement. He leaned forward capturing her lips in a searing kiss as he wrapped his arms around her back and twisted on the couch so that she was once again underneath him.

He groaned against her lips as she reached her hand down inside his boxer briefs and gripped him in her hand. As she moved her hand, she squeezed lightly and ran her fingers over the wetness on the tip of him before rubbing her thumb in a circle. "Condom?" Andy practically panted, feeling the desperation to have him inside of her rising in her chest.

Nick did his best to focus but found it nearly impossible to focus on anything but the movement of her hand on his shaft. "Andy, I…" he tried but couldn't formulate a full sentence. She seemed to get the message as she released her hold on him.

Closing his eyes for a moment, Nick took a couple of deep breaths before pushing up off of the couch and looked for his jacket behind the end table near the couch. Picking it up, he reached into a pocket on the inside of his jacket and felt the packaging of the condom wrapper. As he made his way back over to where she was laying on the couch, the thought of picking her up and carrying her to the bedroom crossed his mind but as he looked down at her smiling up at him he knew that there was no way in hell they would even make it all the way to her bedroom.

Andy pushed up into a sitting position and reached out to grab the waistband of Nick's boxer briefs as he halted next to her. She wanted him to know in no uncertain terms that she wanted this, and him, just as much as he did. Keeping her eyes locked with his, she ached with desire as she slid his last piece of clothing down his legs. She let her eyes rake appreciatively over his naked body for a moment before moving her gaze upward to lock with his once again. Reaching out, Andy grabbed the condom from his hand and tore open the wrapper so she could roll it on him.

Any sort of restraint that either of them had been showing was gone as Nick leaned down and crushed his lips against hers in a bruising kiss and pushed her back into the couch cushions, covering her body with his own. He broke their kiss as he stripped her panties off; the last of the barriers between them finally gone. Both fully exposed in more ways than one.

It felt like they were both holding their breath as he hovered at her entrance for a moment in spite of their heavy breathing which was the only sound in Andy's apartment. They held one another's gaze as Nick finally pushed in her, burying himself to the hilt. One of Andy's hands gripped Nick's bicep as they began to move together. She rose up to meet each one of his thrusts as the rhythm of their coupling became more demanding.

Nick couldn't take his eyes off of her and how beautiful she looked as she closed her eyes with a blissful expression. He lowered his head and brushed his lips lightly across hers. His action had the desired effect as Andy wrapped one arm around his neck and kissed him back, long and deep. All Nick could think about was how good she felt. How right it felt. How he never wanted it to end. But he could feel that Andy was so close as she wrapped her legs around his waist and arched her back slightly.

"Oh God…Nick…" she moaned.

He bent his head lower and latched his lips onto her neck, letting his teeth nip at the soft skin as Andy dug her nails into his shoulders. "Andy…" he said her name like a reverent prayer. Her body began to clench around him as he rocked into her harder and faster. He watched her face as she finally let herself go, crying out with pleasure.

Seeing her unravel beneath him, because of him, _for him_ was almost his own undoing. As her orgasm continued to ripple through her, she opened her eyes and looked at him, making it that much harder for him to hold back the release that his own body was seeking. Her hands reached up to cup his face, fingertips lightly brushing his cheeks as her lips barely touched his own. "Nick," she breathed his. He had never loved hearing his name more than the way it sounded as it tumbled from her lips. "Nick..."

The rhythm of his hips became increasingly erratic before his body finally convulsed with his own orgasm, a loud groan escaping his lips. He felt Andy's arms wrap around his shoulders, running a soothing hand down his muscled back as he collapsed onto her. Nick was pretty sure that he would be content to lay like that forever.

He dropped a kiss onto her collarbone before he rolled to side and wedged himself between the back of the couch and Andy's body, draping his arm across her stomach. "So, is this what you meant by a drink 'or something'?" Nick asked with a teasing twinkle in his eye, slightly out of breath.

Andy smacked his chest lightly before chuckling.

* * *

Andy rested her head on Nick's abdomen as they lay in her bed talking, both of their bodies spent after their second round that had started on the way to her room and finished in her bed. They had spent the last half hour or so talking about firsts. It started with innocent things like their first pet – a cat named Mr. Bubbles for Andy.

_("Mr. Bubbles, huh?" Nick chuckled. "Are you sure it wasn't a fish?"_

"_Shut up, I was five," Andy responded with a playful shove.)_

To the current topic of not-so-innocent things like their first times – Nick was sixteen, her name was Monique and it was in the back of a car.

"The back of a car?" Andy asked, eyes wide. "You were so romantic," her tone sarcastic.

"Hey, I was sixteen," Nick defended himself. "At least it wasn't at a party," he smirked as he looked down to where she was lying.

She narrowed her eyes at him playfully. "Yeah, well, at least I was in a bed."

"I'm sure the dance music blaring downstairs was really romantic," he teased.

"I hate you so much right now," she told him, laughter evident in her voice.

He poked her lightly in the side, "No, you don't."

She looked up at him and nodded, biting back a smile. "No, I really do."

"Come here," he said, running his hand up her arm. She shook her head as she shifted away from him towards the foot of the bed, leaning back on her elbows. "Fine." He sat up fully with a predatory look before he lunged for her, managing to pin her underneath him on the bed and causing her to laugh. Looking down at her in the soft glow from the city lights coming through her windows as she smiled up at him, her chestnut hair fanned out on the comforter like a halo, he was sure that she had never been more beautiful. She looked as happy as he felt. After the way the day had started, this was the last place that he thought it would end.

He had that look again; the one that took her breath away. He dipped his head low and pressed his lips to hers in a soft kiss. "What was that for?" she asked, wrapping her hand around his bicep as he pulled back once more.

"Just making sure this is real," he told her with a sheepish grin.

Wrapping her arms around his neck, Andy pulled him down to her, needing to feel and taste him again. For the umpteenth time that night, she was thankful that he hadn't started their conversation in her hallway by giving her phone back. She had followed her heart when she had kissed him and that had been all that mattered. Something less pleasant crept deeper into her thoughts and no matter how hard she tried, she just couldn't shake it.

As they broke apart, Nick saw Andy's smile falter a bit. "What's wrong?"

"I have to tell Gail," she blurted out, the thought weighing too heavily on her.

At her words, Nick looked away from her and nodded before sitting up and leaning back against the headboard of Andy's bed. Andy followed his lead and sat up as well, facing him. "Andy, I'm s-" he started but she cut him off before he could finish.

"Don't say you're say sorry," she told him with a smile. "Because I'm not." She scooted closer to him and hitched one leg over both of his to straddle him. "I kissed you, remember?"

"Vaguely," he replied with a cheeky grin as he brought his hands up to rest on either side of her waist.

She leaned forward and brushed his lips lightly with her own, closing her eyes as she rested her forehead against his. "I want to do this. You and me. But I have to be honest with her."

Reaching up, he cupped her face in his hands to get her to look at him. "I get it," he said.

Andy nodded. "Until I tell her, we have to be professional at 15," she explained, drawing an invisible pattern with her finger on his chest. "Like nothing's changed."

"And days like tomorrow when we're not at 15?" he asked.

She considered his question for a moment, rolling off of him and nestling against him as they both shifted to rest their heads on her pillows. After the night that they had spent together so far, she wanted nothing more than to spend the next day with him. "What'd you have in mind?"

"I thought I'd get up in the morning and make us breakfast," he suggested.

"Mm hmm," she murmured as she closed her eyes, thinking that sounded like a perfect way to start their day.

"If the weather's decent, maybe drive out to the Scarborough Bluffs and go hiking," he offered. Andy had a dreamy smile on her lips as she listened to the day Nick was planning for them. "Have you ever been out there?"

Andy opened her eyes and looked up at him, shaking her head. "First time."

"Oh, I get to be the first, huh?" he teased leaning back just a bit. "Do you think you'll remember the name of the guy who took you there? I mean, unlike say, your first kiss."

She couldn't help but laugh. "In my defense, it was not a memorable first kiss. In fact, it was really bad and I tried to forget it and obviously, it worked." Leaning forward on her elbows, she grinned down at him.

"So what you're saying is, I need to make tomorrow a day you won't forget," his said, his eyes shining in amusement.

Andy shrugged her shoulders with a playful look. "And try not to slobber on me like what's-his-face."

With a devilish grin, he reached up and grabbed her face in his hands, "Oh, you mean like this." Andy squealed and tried to wriggle out of his grasp as he attempted to lick her face.

* * *

As the sun poured in through the windows the next morning, Nick rolled onto his side and into a solid form on the bed next to him. Opening his eyes slowly, the mess of dark brown hair on the pillow next to his made him smile as the previous night came rushing back to him. He ran his fingers lightly up her bare arm and shoulder, before gently brushing her hair away from her neck. Leaning down, he dropped a soft kiss on her neck, smiling against her silky skin as he heard her faint snoring. He was pretty certain that if he could wake up this way every day for the rest of his life, he would be the happiest man in the world.

He felt her begin to stir as he kissed her shoulder. "Morning," she breathed, grabbing the hand that he had rested on her waist and wrapping it more tightly around her.

Curling his body against hers, he rested his chin in the crook of her neck. "Good morning," he greeted, wanting nothing more in that moment than to spend the rest of the day in her bed. He closed his eyes, deciding that the outside world could wait just a little bit longer.


	10. Chapter 10

**Author's Note: **First off, over 200 reviews?! You guys are so amazing and honestly the feedback just makes me want to write more and more. Thanks to **Bellabun** for being my 200th review! And if that wasn't enough over 100 favorites and nearly 300 follows. Just wow. So, when I was writing this chapter I went back and forth with starting it virtually where the previous chapter left off or having it pick up where episode 4x10 left off. Ultimately, I couldn't choose so you guys get both! :) So enjoy and I look forward to reading what you guys think about it!

* * *

Andy watched as Nick picked up his gray Henley off of her living room floor and pulled it over his head. "Didn't I see you in those clothes yesterday?" she smirked as he sat down on her couch to put his shoes on.

He looked up at her, the edge of his mouth ticking up just slightly as he did his best to keep a straight face at her teasing. "Funny."

"I just don't know if I can be seen leaving my building with you doing the walk of shame. I mean, what will people think," she quipped, walking over towards the door where her coat and scarf lay in a heap and picked them up so she could put them on.

Springing off of the couch with a smile, he made his way over to where she was standing in a few long strides before wrapping his arms around her waist and squeezing her tightly for a second. "Hmm, maybe, good job, 406?"

She let out a laugh at that and twisted in his grasp, draping her arms around his neck. "That's actually what _I_ was thinking," she said, her eyes dancing with mirth as she leaned forward and kissed him much like she had the night before.

Nick smiled against her lips as he kissed her back. He knew that he would be content to spend the rest of the day in her apartment especially if they continued what they were doing, but he really did want to take her out to Scarborough and they still had to stop by his place so he could change before they made the drive out there. "We'll continue this later," he told her as he broke the kiss before giving her a quick peck on the lips and releasing his hold on her. She reluctantly let go of him as well.

"I'm gonna hold you to that," she responded, watching him walk towards her couch and smiling appreciatively as he bent over to pick up his leather jacket and hoodie from her floor.

* * *

"My legs are tired now," Andy remarked as they made their way up the path not far from the meadow at the top of the bluffs.

"Sure they are," Nick responded, not believing for a second that she was actually tired from their walk up the trail. This was the same girl that he knew ran 5k at least 3 times a week. "This way." He motioned down the trail flanked by tall grass on either side and began walking in that direction. Quickly walking up behind him, she slid her arms over his shoulders which made him stop in his tracks. "What are you doing?" he asked.

"I want a ride," she told him, wrapping her arms more snuggly around him.

He turned his head to the side and glanced back at her. "Seriously?"

"Yep," she nodded.

"Fine," he sighed, his mouth quirking up in a smile. As she jumped on his back, he tucked his arms underneath her legs to hold her more firmly in place. He began to move forward once again and she tightened her hold on him, lightly resting her head against his.

It had turned out to be a beautiful late fall day with the sun shining brightly and warming them in the cool, crisp air. Looking around the meadow that they had started walking through, Andy could just imagine how beautiful it would be in the spring. "We should come back when the weather warms up again," she told him, continuing to admire their surroundings.

Nick smiled at her words. He knew that she hadn't meant anything more than she wanted to visit The Bluffs again, but he couldn't help but delight in the fact that some part of her was having thoughts about a future that included him. They continued to make their way down the path and towards the edge of the bluffs in comfortable silence.

"You can let me down," Andy finally said despite the fact that she was perfectly happy where she was.

"Are you sure?" he asked, a teasing tone in his voice. "I mean, I wouldn't want your legs to get tired again."

Andy rolled her eyes good-naturedly. "Put me down." Nick stopped and released her legs from his grasp so she could walk the rest of the way. The moment her feet touched the ground, she jogged past him, turning slightly with a flirtatious smile. "Coming?"

He watched her jog towards the fencing near the edge of the bluff where a bench sat under a tree. As she reached her destination, she stopped for a moment and took in the beauty before her. She understood why people would want to spend millions of dollars to live up on the bluffs. Realizing that Nick wasn't with her, she turned around and saw him leisurely making his way towards her.

"You're slow," she called out to him, grinning. He wanted to take out his phone and snap a picture of her standing there with Lake Ontario stretching out behind her because he didn't think he had ever seen a more breathtaking sight.

"Do you remember me carrying you for the last five minutes?" he quipped despite picking up the pace so he could join her.

She smiled in response. "Maybe." Then she turned back around and looked out over the park below.

Walking up beside Andy, he took in the expansive view before them. They weren't the only people taking advantage of the nice day as he saw a number of people enjoying the beach down below the bluffs.

"It's gorgeous," Andy remarked.

"Yeah, it is," he agreed, glancing over at her out of the corner of his eye.

He quickly looked straight ahead again when she turned her head to look at him. "Where's your phone?" Andy asked.

Nick reached into his front pocket and pulled it out to show Andy. "Right here, why?"

"Because I think we should take a picture," she smiled at him before grabbing his phone out of his hand. Finding the camera app on the screen, she tapped it and then tapped it again so that she could see her and Nick on the screen. They both wrapped an arm around one another as they posed for the picture. Andy moved the phone around in an effort to get the two of them and Lake Ontario into the picture but let out a frustrated groan after a moment.

"Need some help there?" Nick asked with an amused expression.

"Ugh, stupid short arms," Andy muttered. He chuckled at her comment as she handed him the phone so he could take the picture. Pulling her in more tightly, he held the phone out and centered them in the shot before they both smiled brightly and he snapped the picture. Nick let Andy look at the photo to make sure she was satisfied with the end result. "Perfect."

He had to agree with her and was almost tempted to make it his wallpaper. Almost. This thing between them was new and he didn't want to do anything that might freak her out about it or him. That didn't mean that it wouldn't be the new picture for when she called him. He handed his phone back to her and she looked up at him questioningly.

"What?"

"Take some pictures," he suggested with a shrug of his shoulders and a small smile. Andy grinned as she took his phone and tapped the screen so she could photograph the amazing scenery. He walked over to the nearby bench and sat down to relax. She was so wrapped up in her picture-taking that it took a few minutes for Andy to realize that he was no longer close by.

Looking around, she saw him on the bench watching the small amount of people on the beach below. Nick, the bench, the tree; it was perfect. She quickly lined up the shot she wanted and snapped the photo before he had even noticed what she had done. Looking down, she tapped on the screen so she could see the picture that she had just taken and smiled. It really was perfect which was why she immediately text messaged it to herself.

* * *

"Do you have your football in the truck?" Andy asked as they made their way to his truck in the parking lot.

"I think so," he answered.

"Good, let's grab it and go to the beach," she told him, turning to face him and grabbing his hand to tug him with her towards where his truck was parked.

A few minutes later they were out on the beach, throwing and running the football. Nick watched Andy go deep for a pass he had just thrown and nearly catch it, her infectious laughter audible even from where he was standing. He grinned as she picked up the football and turned around to face him.

"Go long!" she yelled to him.

Just to mess with her, he moved forward and laughed as her brow furrowed in mock annoyance. He started backing up as she drew back her arm and threw the football. It had been a good decision as she had called it right and managed to throw a long and perfect spiral pass. Nick caught it and started running towards her, quick on his feet as he feinted to the left before running to the right. Andy sprinted to try to catch up to him before he crossed the piece of driftwood that they had decided was the end zone, but just wasn't fast enough. "Cheater," she remarked, as she stopped next to him and shoved him playfully.

Nick barked out a laugh. "What?"

"You're faster than me," she said, snatching the football away from him.

"Which is why all you have to do is touch me," he retorted as he reached out to try to take the football away from her. She twisted away so he couldn't get his hands on it. "Who knew you were such a sore loser," he goaded, reaching around her from the other side attempting to grab the football again. "I'm gonna need the football if I'm gonna throw it to you."

She glanced back at him with a mischievous glint in her eyes. "You'll have to catch me first," she said before taking off towards where he had just run from. He gave her a slight head start before he sprinted after her. Nick had almost caught her as she neared the end zone that they had marked with his scarf, but slowed down intentionally to let her cross it. "Ha. Ha. Ha," she exclaimed, holding the football over her head and doing a little victory dance.

Shaking his head, Nick laughed as he watched her celebration. Sometimes it was just more fun to lose. "Can I have the football now?" he asked.

Andy stepped closer to Nick but held onto the football, her face scrunching in obvious thought as she contemplated handing it over. "Okay," she finally said with a grin, handing him the football and walking away.

"You know that didn't count," he called out to her as she continued toward her side of their makeshift football field.

"Yes, it did," Andy threw over her shoulder. "Even though you let me beat you." Nick chuckled at her last comment.

He waited for her to get in position on the other side before throwing the football directly to her. With a devilish grin on his face, he watched as she ran towards him. He backed up a little and waited to see what direction she would go before darting that way quickly. She was right in front of him, giggling and doing her best to fake him out like he had done to her, only her attempt was not successful at all as he reached out and wrapped his arms around her waist from behind. Andy laughed loudly as he held onto her tightly and swung her around.

As they stopped spinning and Andy's feet touched the sand once again, he loosened his hold on her but didn't let go of her completely. "You were supposed to let me win," she told him, hitting him lightly in the chest with the football as she turned around to face him.

Looking down at her, the exercise and the cool air making her cheeks pink, Nick didn't know how he had managed to go as long as he had without kissing her. He leaned down and covered her mouth with his own in a slow kiss. "I've wanted to do that all afternoon," he confessed as they both pulled back just a bit.

Andy smiled at his words. "Me too," she told him softly before leaning up to press her lips to his this time.

* * *

Six days had passed since the day that Christian had been kidnapped. Six days since she and Nick had started spending every waking, or as was the case with Nick right then, non-waking, moment together. She watched him sleep peacefully next to her as she lay on her side, resting her head on her pillow.

The first couple of days she had been able to put the thought of Gail out of her mind and live in the happy little bubble that she and Nick had created during their time off. Gail had been off shift when they had returned to work on the third day which Andy had told herself that it just meant that she had one more day to figure out what exactly she was going to say to her. On the fourth day, Andy decided that she was going to tell Gail, only she somehow managed to avoid her all day. It was the same on the fifth and sixth day and now it had been a week and her conscience was eating away at her.

When she and Nick were at her place or his place, she somehow managed to banish the thought of Gail completely from her mind. That was until that night. Reaching out, Andy lightly traced the outline of Nick's cheek and smiled. The overwhelming happiness she felt being with him far outweighed guilt, but that didn't mean that she didn't feel it all the same. She rested her hand on top of Nick's near her pillow and resolved that if she and Nick were going to continue to do… _this_ then she had to tell Gail. Tomorrow.

* * *

Andy swiped at the tears streaking her face as she walked out of the hospital doors. One of the reasons that she had waited a week to tell Gail about her and Nick was that she had worried that Gail would react exactly as she had. All day, Andy had worked up the courage to tell Gail the truth because she wanted to be open about her relationship with Nick. She wanted to be open about her newfound happiness and not feel like it was something dirty that they had to hide from everyone.

Opening the door of the squad car, Andy slid into the driver's seat and adjusted the rear view mirror so she could check to make sure that she didn't have mascara running down her face. She ran her finger underneath her eyes before repositioning the mirror once she was satisfied that she no longer looked like she had just been crying. Gail's words echoed in her head as she started the car and began her journey back to 15.

_You are the bad guy. You, Miss-Perfect-Never-Hurt-A-Fly-McNally, are the bad guy._

It was hard to forget the sneer that Gail had on her face as she took pleasure in the fact that Andy had done wrong in her eyes. Maybe she had been right in questioning whether or not she and Gail were truly friends. Nick had told Andy that Gail thought that there was something going on between he and Andy and that had been part of the reason that he and Gail had broken up, but in the two months since then she had practically ignored Andy. Was that friendship?

Andy sighed. It didn't matter that she and Gail weren't close friends and that Gail had actually cheated on Nick and that up until a week ago Gail had assumed wrong about Nick and Andy's relationship, she had hurt Gail.

Her thoughts drifted to Nick. His smile that seemed to light up a room. The look in his eyes that so often made her heart skip a beat. His infectious laughter that, no matter her mood, always seemed to make her feel lighter. His kiss that always left her wanting more. The arms that would wrap around her and make her feel so safe and content that she was sure that she never wanted to leave.

That nagging guilt still plagued her thoughts. She desperately wanted to see Nick because she was sure that it would provide her with the clarity that she so desperately needed.

* * *

Andy looked over at Nick as they drove to the movie theater, a small smile on her lips. As she had hoped when she was driving back to 15 earlier, being with Nick had given her the answer that she had been looking for. When she had walked out to the 15 parking lot and had seen Nick leaning against his truck, the questions or doubts that had worked their way into her thoughts about being with him had started to melt away.

But it was when she had kissed him that those doubts had disappeared entirely. A warmth had spread through her chest as she had pulled away and had seen him smiling at her. She had already known that he was worth it but seeing the way that he set her mind at ease just confirmed to her that what she had with Nick was right.

Yes, she wished that it hadn't hurt Gail, but how could she walk away from a man like Nick and her ever growing feelings for him? The touch of Nick's hand on her own pulled her out of her thoughts as he wrapped his fingers around hers, their joined hands resting on top of her leg. "You sure you're still up for the movie?" he asked, his voice laced with concern as he brought the car to a stop at the red light.

Twisting her hand in his, she laced her fingers through his before answering his question. "Yeah, I'm sure," she smiled, squeezing his hand lightly.

He returned her smile as he lifted her hand towards him and placed a kiss on the back of it. Glancing at the intersection, she saw that the light was still red so she leaned over and pressed her lips to his. As she started to pull away, his fingers threaded through her hair to hold her in place as he deepened their kiss, sliding his tongue into her mouth. The feel of his tongue lightly caressing her own had her rethinking the whole movie idea for a moment.

A car horn sounded behind them and they quickly broke apart as they realized that the light had changed, both of them chuckling as Nick accelerated his truck once again. "So what _are_ we going to see?" Andy asked.

"You've only been talking about it for the last two months," he replied, knowing that she would know exactly what movie they were seeing.

Andy looked at him in surprise, her mouth slightly agape before she began to smile. "Seriously?" She wanted to make sure that he wasn't just messing with her.

"I didn't watch _The Hunger Games_ with you the other night for nothing." He turned his truck into the entrance of an underground garage near Dundas Square.

She didn't know it was possible but he had just gotten a little hotter to her. As much as she tried not to make comparisons with Nick and her exes, she couldn't help but think that Sam never would have taken her to see a movie like _Catching Fire_. He would have mocked her for liking something like that in typical Sam fashion and then told her that maybe she and Traci could go see it together.

But that was thing with Nick. He wasn't afraid of venturing outside of his comfort zone. Of experiencing new things. It was just one of the many things that made her fall for Nick a little more with each passing day.

Andy told him all about the new characters in the second movie in _The Hunger Games_ trilogy, making sure not to spoiler anything for him, as they got out of his truck and made their way out of the parking garage and towards the movie theater. As they approached the theater entrance, Andy was glad that Nick had got them tickets for the show based on the line that was wrapped around the long queue just inside the front doors. After printing their tickets from the machine, they made their way inside the lower lobby and over to the escalators that would take them upstairs to the theater showing their movie.

As she and Nick stepped on the escalator, Andy wordlessly reached over and threaded her fingers through Nick's. He looked at her with a surprised but pleased expression. It wasn't like PDA had been completely off-limits since they had ventured from friend to romance territory but it felt different. Gail knew about them now and Andy had kissed him in 15's parking lot and decided that she still wanted to be with him which just made this thing between him and Andy that much more real.

Then it hit him. Andy had chosen _him_. She had come to the same conclusion that he had the night that they had finally crossed the friendship line, that he… they… _this_ was worth it. Emboldened by those thoughts as they rode the next escalator up another level, Nick leaned over and placed a light kiss on Andy's lips.

It was her turn to look at him in surprise before a beautiful grin lit up her features. He looked forward and watched the crowd as they inched towards the top of the second escalator. Glimpsing over at her, he saw that she was still smiling and couldn't help but feel proud that he was the one that made her feel that way.

Looping around, still hand-in-hand, they got on the third and final escalator. "Hey," Andy said softly to get his attention. He turned his head to look at her, waiting for her to continue. Instead, she leaned up and gave him a quick peck on the lips. This time it was Nick's turn to grin from ear-to-ear. "So this pre-paid popcorn…would it happen to include pre-paid candy?" she asked, as they stepped off the escalator and into the large oval-shaped upper lobby, the concessions along the back wall.

"Andy, that was a joke. I didn't actually pre-pay for popcorn," he smirked. They walked over to the concession queue and got in the sizeable line. "What kind of nerd do you think I am?"

She raised her eyebrows at his question with a taunting smile. "Do you really want me to answer that?"

Nick shook his head. "Nope," he replied before looking up at the screens displaying the various concession items available. "So, uh, Sour Patch Kids then?"

Andy smiled at his response, fighting the urge to kiss him again. It had been so long since she had felt this way that she had almost forgotten what it felt like to be happy. Truly happy. And she had Nick to thank for that.


	11. Chapter 11

**Author's Note: **So I probably could've finished this chapter sooner but the last episode of Rookie Blue traumatized me and had me freaking out about the well-being of Nick in the season finale and for season 5. Those of you who I PM with on a regular basis know all about my panicking over this very thing. Needless to say, I was way too distracted Thursday night and then this weekend was full of football, NASCAR and a birthday party. Oh, one thing that I absolutely adored about the last episode was the fact that Nick/Andy kissed for all of 15 to see while IN UNIFORM. Le sigh.

Fun fact about this chapter, I listened to Zaac Pick's "Drifters" that played at the end of 4x11 during that wonderful Nick/Andy scene at The Penny the entire time I wrote this chapter. It's also become one of my McCollins anthems. There are a few of them. Well, I can't wait to hear what you guys think of the chapter! Enjoy!

* * *

It was late. Nick looked down at his watch as he walked down the hall. _2:38. AM, _he thought. He had certainly hoped that the op would end a little bit earlier than it had the night before but it had actually ended up running _longer_. He was a cop, so of course he loved bringing down the bad guys even if they were just small time users buying crack on the streets. There was just something that he loved more that had nothing to do with his chosen profession.

Well, it kind of did since that something was in the form of a certain chestnut-haired, brown-eyed and stunningly beautiful woman that he had called his partner more often than not over the last year. He smiled to himself as he fiddled with the keys in his hands to find the right one to unlock the door.

Coming to a stop, he inserted the key in the lock and made his way inside the apartment before shutting the door and locking it behind him. He made his way through the living room and down the hall, his backpack slung over his shoulder in the dim light pouring through the large windows.

As he walked into the bedroom he smiled and his heart warmed at the sight before him. He resisted the urge to go over to her and plant a kiss on her lips, and instead quietly dropped his bag on the floor before taking his shoes off and placing them neatly against the wall and out of the way next to his backpack. Stripping his shirt and jeans off, he tossed them on top of his shoes and silently padded to the bathroom before he closed the door slowly trying to avoid waking her.

A few minutes later after he had finished his nightly ritual of washing his face, brushing and flossing his teeth, he turned off the bathroom light and opened the door. He let his eyes adjust to the darker room for a second before making his way over to the bed.

_God, she looks perfect, _Nick thought as he got closer to the bed. She was lying on her side facing what had quickly become his side of the bed, her bare shoulder stuck out just above the comforter that covered the rest of her body. Nick longed to see what she had on underneath. She had expected him to be at her place over two hours ago so he wondered if she had 'dressed' for the occasion and fallen asleep while waiting for him.

Undoing his watch, he set it on top of his open book on the nightstand. The thought crossed his mind that he should just let her sleep. He had one more day of Swarek and Nash's op and was in desperate need of some sleep of his own. Unable to help himself, he leaned over and placed a soft kiss on her shoulder that was peeking out from under the covers. She had showered earlier and he could smell the faint scent of Andy's favorite sweet-yet-musky vanilla lotion, the one that had become so distinctly Andy that he was sure that for the rest of his days his mind would conjure a perfect image of her whenever he caught even the tiniest whiff of it.

He brushed a kiss against her skin once again as he breathed her in and lightly trailed his lips over her shoulder and to the crook of her neck. His actions had the desired effect as she began to stir from her slumber. Before she could wake fully, he pressed his lips to hers tenderly. He felt her smile against his mouth which, of course, made his own lips tick upwards. "Hey," he whispered as he pulled back to look in her now open eyes.

The dreamy smile on her lips made him wonder if perhaps he'd had a starring role in whatever her mind had conjured up while she was sleeping. "Hi," Andy replied, reaching up to cup his cheek as if she was checking to make sure that he was really there.

"Sorry the op ran late," he apologized as he shifted closer to her under the comforter. He let his hand rest on the curve of her hip, his thumb rubbing against the thin material of the nightie that she had on. It suddenly clicked in his brain what she was wearing and he couldn't stop the goofy grin that lit up his face. "Was this for me?" he asked lifting up the comforter enough so he could see exactly what she had on.

"Maybe," she responded cheekily. "You missed what I had on when you were supposed to be here earlier."

"Oh yeah, what's that?" he asked, intrigued as to what could be sexier than the image before him.

Andy leaned up, her lips just barely brushing against his. Nick loved when she teased him like this. "Nothing," was her whispered response.

He let his hands slip down her toned frame, his fingers finally toying with the hem of her nightie. "I think I can recreate that moment," he murmured before he pulled the material up and off her body completely.

Wrapping her arms around his neck, Andy pulled him to her and captured his lips in an open-mouthed kiss. He pressed her into the mattress even more as she sighed into his mouth, all thoughts of sleep disappearing entirely.

* * *

Walking out of the locker room, Nick was unable to hide his disappointment over his conversation with Andy. When they had been at her apartment that morning, all he had asked was that they be open with each other while they navigated their new relationship. This was new territory, for both of them. Nick figured that if they communicated like they did with their friendship then they could figure things out together.

He knew that he was probably in this deeper than Andy, after all, he was the one who had confessed his feelings first. That fact was why he wasn't pushing for them to define their relationship. If they were going to do this and make it work then Nick knew that she needed to figure her feelings out on her own rather than having him pressure her. He just needed one thing from her, honesty. Otherwise, what sort of relationship did they even have?

When she had lied to him about her day, he could see how much it pained her but that didn't lessen the sting of it. She had spent the day with Swarek in what Traci had called his 'latest McNally crisis' which meant that it wasn't as uneventful as Andy wanted to pretend. Nick knew that he was probably letting his jealousy get the best of him, and in fact, he was pretty sure that if he saw Swarek before he left 15 that he might punch him in the face.

Luckily, he managed to make it all the way out to his truck without seeing Swarek. Getting in and starting the truck, Nick contemplated going straight home but he didn't want to go home and drink alone. Then he thought about The Penny. Better to drink alone in a room full of people than to sit and wallow alone in his apartment.

* * *

Nick Collins wasn't typically a brooder. Sure there was when Gail had cheated on him and they had broken up but those were extenuating circumstances. However, as he sat at the bar with his arms crossed staring at his beer and thinking about Andy, he couldn't stop the brooding pout coloring his features no matter how hard he tried. The melancholy music playing on the jukebox certainly wasn't helping his mood either.

Suddenly, he felt a light tap on his shoulder and was surprised to find an exhausted looking Andy as he turned around. "Hey," she said, sounding a little unsure of herself.

"Hey," he greeted her with wide eyes, surprised to see her standing before him. "What're you doin' here?"

"Looking for you," she told him, glancing down at the bar. Nick couldn't help but notice her tentativeness.

It was his turn to glance at the bar before he answered her. "You alright?" he asked even though he could see it on her face that she obviously wasn't.

She looked away for a moment and sighed quietly before looking back at Nick and continuing. "I had a really terrible day today." She paused briefly, searching his eyes. "Can I tell you about it?"

Nick knew that this was a pivotal moment in their relationship. She had sought him out not because they had fought over the fact that she hadn't been truthful with him earlier, but because she wanted to open up to him. It was like she was telling him that she was ready. Ready for them to be more than what they had been. Ready to give him her trust, and most importantly, her heart. His mouth quirked up in a small smile as he nodded his head, "Of course."

He pushed the stool next to him at the bar out further so that she could have a seat, and Andy smiled at him gratefully before sitting down.

Looking back up at the bartender, Nick pointed to his beer and said, "Hey, can I get two more of those?" He crossed his arms on the bar and leaned towards Andy, giving her his undivided attention.

Andy fiddled with her hands for a moment, wondering where she should start. With a sigh, she decided that the best place to start would be at the beginning. "Okay, you know when I got infected with anthrax?"

He nodded in response before glancing up at the bartender who set their beers in front of them.

"Well, you know we had to strip completely so they could decontaminate us which included any personal items that we had on us," Andy paused for a moment. "Marlo had a pill box."

Nick's brow furrowed together. Obviously, the pill box was important but he wondered what Marlo could've had in there that she needed to carry them around with her while she was on duty. They couldn't have been just your run-of-the-mill painkillers.

"She told me that she's bipolar," she said, turning to look Nick in the eyes. She wasn't surprised to see the shock there. "When we got back to 15, she begged me not to say anything and she said that she had been handling it so I kept it to myself…" Andy wished that she hadn't because then they might not have been in the mess that they had been in earlier in the day.

"Did Swarek know?" he asked before Andy could continue. Swarek and Marlo had been together for probably the last eight months so surely he had to know as well.

Andy shook her head. "No, she told me she hadn't told him." The reaction that Nick had to that piece of information was exactly how Andy had felt when Marlo had told her, but she had respected the fact that it wasn't her secret to tell so Andy had kept it to herself.

"So what happened today?" Nick wondered as he watched Andy take a sip of her beer.

"I was out in the lot after Parade this morning and I saw Marlo sitting in one of the cars. She seemed like she was…on edge. She kept rambling on about Kevin Ford and what she thought was evidence that proved that he was a pedophile," she explained, focusing on her beer as she drew random lines in the condensation of her pilsner glass.

Nick recognized that name. "Wait, isn't that the guy that they suspected in Christian's kidnapping?" She nodded her head in response. "Marlo's been investigating him ever since then?"

"Yeah," Andy confirmed before delving back into the day's events. "So Oliver and I respond to a 911 call for a possible assault and when we got inside and saw the victim, Oliver realized that it was Kevin Ford." Andy wasn't surprised when Nick's mouth gaped open slightly. He picked up his beer and took a swig as he waited for Andy to continue.

"After Luke and forensics got there, Oliver and I started going door-to-door to question the neighbors and see if anyone had seen anything out of the ordinary. Well, I was talking to a woman and she told me that she had seen Ford and a woman arguing the night before. When she described the woman to me, I knew that it was Marlo," she explained, drinking some more of her beer before beginning the next part of her story.

As she set her beer back down, she sighed and began to fiddle with her hands again. "I didn't know what else to do," she told him, sounding slightly distressed. "So I called Sam and told him that Marlo could be in trouble and just told him to meet me at the station."

"That's what Traci meant by his latest McNally crisis," Nick said almost to himself, the connection clicking in his head. Traci must have heard Sam answer the phone knowing that it was Andy and assumed that whatever he had left for in the middle of their sting operation had to do with Andy.

"What?" she asked, looking at him with a slightly puzzled expression.

"It was just something that Traci had said about Swarek," he told her. "She must've thought he took off to handle something that had to do with you based on your conversation.

"Oh," Andy answered, not sure what to say. So Nick had known that part of her day had had to do with Sam. That explained the disappointed expression that he'd had on his face in the locker room when she had told him that her day was uneventful. "Nick, did you think…" she started, turning slightly so that her knee brushed against his.

He _had_ told her that he wanted to be open. "I didn't know what to think," he admitted with a shrug of his shoulders. "Look, I know you guys have history and when you didn't say anything about it in the locker room, I just…" Glancing back up at her with a sheepish expression, he sighed before continuing. "I'm sorry I jumped to conclusions."

"Nick…" she started but he interrupted her knowing that there was much more to this story.

"So what happened when you guys got to the station," he asked trying to get their conversation back on track.

Andy gave him a look, but decided to let _that_ particular subject drop. For now. "I ran into Chris and he told me that Marlo was in the evidence room so Sam and I went in there and Marlo had pictures of Kevin Ford scattered all over the desk in there. She was manic and we couldn't get her to calm down by simply talking to her so I did the only thing I could think of and I told Sam that she's bipolar."

He hated to see Andy look so distraught. Reaching over, he placed his hand on her knee and gave it a light squeeze before smiling at her reassuringly. "Sam was able to calm her down enough and tell her what happened to Ford. She swore that she hadn't done anything to him but she mentioned that she had maybe left some prints on the doorknob when she was over there last night so Sam decided to head to Ford's and asked if I could take Marlo home."

"On the way to her house, she confirmed what I already knew which was that she had stopped taking her meds and when I asked her why…" Andy had never been Marlo's biggest fan but ever since the day of the anthrax scare she had slowly come to like the woman that she had once seen as her rival for Sam's affections when Andy had returned to 15. It was amazing how much could change in a few months. Her admission to Andy in the squad car earlier that day had made Andy feel more for Marlo than she had ever thought possible.

"She told me that she's in love with Sam and she just wanted to feel it." She had to admit it was strange to be talking so candidly about another woman's feelings for a man that Andy had been sure that she would never get over, but it was when Marlo had confessed those feelings that Andy had truly known that she _was_ over Sam Swarek. That was why when Sam had asked her to change Marlo's memo book that she had made the decision to do it because Andy knew that she wasn't doing it in some misguided attempt to show Sam that she still had feelings for him. Sure, she still cared about him and always would but she wasn't in love with him anymore.

Nick searched her eyes for a moment. "That must've been weird," he said.

Andy shrugged. "Not for the reason you're thinking," she reassured him. "I just felt bad for her. I mean, I can't imagine what that must feel like to not be able to… feel everything that you do when you're in love." She sighed, remembering the anguish in Marlo's voice. "Anyways, when I dropped her off at her psychiatrist's office she told me that she'd been in Kevin Ford's house."

"She went _inside_ his house?" Nick asked with an incredulous look. He wondered how Swarek never noticed that there was something so…off about his girlfriend that she managed to get to that point.

"Yeah, when Ford was at work one day she went inside his house and searched it. She even searched his laptop so I called Sam to let him know that Marlo's fingerprints had to be inside the house. He told me that that they had managed to pull a full set of prints off of the laptop that weren't Ford's and it was only a matter of time before they figured out they were Marlo's," she explained, doing her best to stamp down the panic that was starting to rise in her over what she had done.

With a heavy sigh, Andy continued. "Sam asked me to change Marlo's memo book." Looking up at Nick, she could tell that he was holding back but he said nothing even though he clearly wanted to. "He told me where in Frank's desk to find the code to get into the locked drawer." She was unable to hide her anger as she thought about Sam's request and how he had tried to use any possible feelings that she might have for him to get her to do what he had asked her to. Andy pondered whether or not she should tell Nick that little piece of information.

"Andy," he said, picking up on her hesitation. "You can tell me."

"He pleaded with me to do it for Marlo because it could ruin her career, then he told me that if I wouldn't do it for her then do it for him," she confessed, her eyes locked with Nick's.

His jaw clenched and one of his fists curled into a ball at her words. He could understand Swarek asking Andy to help him make sure that an innocent cop's name didn't get dragged through the mud, but he couldn't believe that the guy had the audacity to try and play on any lingering feelings that Andy might have for him. He wished that Swarek would walk through the door of The Penny so that he _could_ punch him in the face like he had wanted to do earlier. "What'd you do?" he asked.

"I had to help Marlo," her admission, making it clear _who_ it was that she had done _what_ she had done for and in the process causing most of the anger that Nick had felt moments before to dissipate. "I nearly got caught by Frank but I managed to add an entry to her logbook. And we got the guy who did it so it all worked out." She got lost in her own thoughts as she remembered the look of disappointment on Oliver's face as she had left him to do both of their jobs nearly the entire shift.

"Hey," Nick said, trying to get her to look at him. "Andy, hey," he said again, reaching out and grasping her face in his hands. He didn't care who saw them, he was not about to let his girl crumble. "You did the right thing."

"Did I?" she questioned, her eyes shining with unshed tears.

"Yes, you were protecting a fellow officer who was innocent," he reassured her, keeping his eyes locked with hers. "You did the right thing."

She smiled at Nick in silent thanks as his words helped to lessen the heavy weight that the day's events had placed on her conscience. "I'm sorry about earlier," she apologized, referencing their conversation in the locker room.

Nick shook his head, finally letting go of her. "No, Andy, it's okay. I get it," he said.

"I know but…you asked me to be open with you this morning and…" Glancing back up at him, she smiled. "I want that." She reached over and held his hand. "No secrets." He nodded his head with a grin that told her that nothing in the world would make him happier than exactly that. "So you guys took down Jackson Irving, huh?" she asked, wanting him to tell her all about his day.

* * *

Nick walked out of Andy's bathroom a few hours later after having brushed his teeth, only to find Andy hunched over one of her dresser drawers. "What are you doing?" he asked, his eyes narrowed in curiosity as he approached her from behind.

Standing upright and turning around to face him, Andy looked up and grinned. "I thought maybe you could leave some of your things here," she explained, toying with the waistband of his boxer briefs.

"Are you giving me a drawer, Andy?" Nick asked, his tone light and teasing, as he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her to him.

"Half of a drawer," she replied, narrowing her eyes playfully.

"Oh wow, that's so generous," he teased with a grin.

"It was going to be a whole one, but you just made me change my mind," she quipped.

Nick couldn't help but laugh at that. "A drawer's a pretty big step. Are you sure?" he asked, brushing his fingertips up her side and tickling her lightly.

She nodded as she began walking him backwards towards her bed. As his legs connected with the edge of the bed, Andy grinned mischievously before pushing him back onto the bed. Nick eyed her hungrily as she climbed on top of him on the bed, straddling his lower body. Leaning forward, she hovered over him but made no move to kiss him. "I'm sure that I want you in my bed every night," she told him before dropping a kiss just above his heart. Glancing up at him, she saw a blissful smile on his lips. "What?" she asked.

"It's nothing," he told her. Burying his fingers in her hair as he grasped her face in his hands, he pulled her to him and their lips met in a searing kiss.

But it wasn't nothing. He was happy. Happier than he could ever remember being in his entire life. He was in love. Hopelessly and completely in love.


	12. Chapter 12

**Author's Note: **Sorry for the delay in getting this chapter posted. The season finale made my muse angry but once I got over the fact that season finale felt so out of place with the rest of the season, I was able to write again. So...yay! I'm on vacation all this week so my hope is that while I'm soaking up the sun, I'll be able to write the next chapter. Hopefully I'll come back to lots of feedback from you guys! I hope you enjoy the chapter!

* * *

Andy awoke to the sound of running water coming from her bathroom. Her eyes still closed, she reached over to the other side of the bed and rested her hand in Nick's vacated side of the bed for a moment as a small smile graced her lips. As she stretched lazily, she allowed herself to picture Nick standing under the spray of hot water in her shower, the water streaming over his toned muscles as it ran down his body. Her eyes shot open as she wondered why in the hell she was still lying in bed. Sitting up, she slung her legs over the side of the bed and just as her feet hit the floor she heard the water shut off.

Maybe she could entice him to take another shower. She made her way over to the bathroom and twisted the knob, opening the door slowly. He looked even better than he had in her fantasy moments ago, with a towel slung low on his hips and droplets of water still glistening on his toned torso. Leaning on the door frame, she just stood there for a moment, content to watch him in silence.

"Morning," Nick greeted, noticing her and smiling at her in the mirror. "Did I wake you?"

Andy shook her head with an appreciative smile as she looked him up and down once more. He turned to face her as she made her way over to where he was standing. "Hi," she finally said before leaning up and giving him a quick peck. Nick grinned as she started to pull away, capturing her lips with his own and pressing her between his still damp body and the hard edge of the countertop as he kissed her deeply.

Somewhere in the corner of Andy's mind, she knew that the short amount of time that they had been together should mean that this shouldn't feel so easy and natural, but it did. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that he was her best friend before they crossed the friendship line a few weeks ago. Maybe it was because they had pretended to be a couple and lived together for nearly six months. Or maybe it was simply because it was her and Nick. _Her and Nick_. Maybe when it was right, this was how it was supposed to feel.

When her and Nick had first gotten together, Andy had been hesitant to define it. She had worried that Sam had left her too broken and damaged for her to ever be willing to be completely open with her heart. That is until that fateful day a week ago. In her mind, that was the day that everything had changed. For the first time in nearly a year, she wanted to let someone in, all the way in. And she wanted that person to be Nick.

The smile on his face as he pulled back mirrored the way that she was feeling. She was happy. Hopping up on the counter, she watched as he reached for the can of shaving cream next to the sink and squirted some in his hand. "Are you just gonna watch me shave?" Nick asked with a slight chuckle as he slathered the shaving cream on his face.

"Maybe," she grinned, the corners of her eyes crinkling a tiny bit.

As he picked up his razor, he remembered the conversation that he and Chloe had had when they were on the sting. After everything that had happened that day it had completely slipped his mind until now. "So Chloe thinks we're together," he told her off-handedly.

"What?" Andy asked, caught off guard by his statement.

He glanced over at her with a smile as he turned his head slightly to the right to start shaving his left cheek. "Yeah, we were just sitting in the car on the op and she pointed out that I shaved."

Resting her hands on either side of her on the edge of the counter, Andy hunched over a bit. "So?"

"That's what I said," Nick told her with a smile. "She told me that only guys in new relationships would shave on a sting."

"Relationship, huh?" Andy teased with a raise of her eyebrows.

"Of course I denied it," he smirked, his eyes darting over to her. "I don't think she believed me though."

"Why's that?"

He dropped his hand to rinse his razor in the faucet and turned to look at her fully. "She thinks I have a good poker face."

"Yeah, well, she's obviously never played poker with you," Andy scoffed, her tone playful.

"Beat you every time, haven't I?" he countered, good-naturedly as he turned his head away from her and began to shave his right cheek.

"It was three times!" she exclaimed, eyes shining in amusement as she held up three fingers.

Nick glanced over before running the razor smoothly down his cheek again. "You need to add a couple of fingers," he told her. He did his best not to laugh as she lowered her ring and pointer fingers, leaving only her middle finger extended towards him. "I said add, not subtract," he deadpanned.

She made a face at him before asking, "What else did she say?"

"Just that she's always liked the idea of you and me," he responded with a casual shrug before he rinsed the razor off once again.

Andy's brow furrowed at his statement, wondering if Chloe had seen them together somehow. The only time that they had openly kissed at 15 was the night that Andy had told Gail about her and Nick. Other than that, Andy had done her best to keep her personal life, well, personal.

Nick could see the wheels turning in Andy's head, trying to figure out if perhaps they hadn't been as discreet as they had thought. "I told her about our time undercover when she and I were partnered up awhile back. You know, us dubbing old French movies," he explained first before he slid the razor over his skin again. Andy waited patiently for him to finish shaving his chin and continue. "I remember she gave me this funny look like she knew my secret."

She already knew the answer but had to ask anyway. "And what secret was that?"

Not answering her right away, he shaved his upper lip and the smile that she couldn't see on his lips that were pursed together, reached his eyes as he glanced at her in the mirror. "That I had feelings for you," he finally answered once he was done, stepping closer to her.

"You missed some," she told him, pointing at his neck. Without moving from where he was standing, he washed the shaving cream off the razor once again before turning the water off and holding the razor out to Andy. "Do you trust me?" she asked, taking it from him with a flirtatious smile as she opened her legs so he could stand in between them and sat up more fully to get closer to him.

"You know I do." Keeping his eyes locked on hers, he lifted his chin so that she could shave his neck and under his chin. He rested his hands on her bare thighs as she made the first clean swipe, and Andy did her best to ignore the wonderful tingling sensation that his touch caused.

She carefully shaved his skin, moving steadily from one side of his neck to the other and enjoyed the feeling of his fingers lightly kneading the muscles of the tops of her thighs as she did so. Andy felt like she was practically panting as she finished, dropping the razor into the sink. Grabbing the hand towel out of the ring on the other side of her, she turned on the faucet and soaked the towel in the cool water.

As she began to wipe the remnants of the shaving cream off of his face, Nick's hands moved to her lower back and he pulled her to him. A lustful look filled Andy's eyes as she felt just how much he had enjoyed their little game of trust.

He cupped her face in his hands, and Andy saw the lust in his eyes which mirrored her own but there was something else too. For a moment, she wondered if he was going to tell her that he loved her but instead he leaned down and slid his lips along hers. Wrapping one arm around his neck, Andy held him more firmly against her as she parted her lips and enjoyed the wonderfully familiar feeling of his tongue playfully teasing her own.

Andy smiled against his lips as she pulled ever-so-slightly on the towel he was wearing and heard it drop to the floor.

* * *

Nick and Andy lay on the couch, snuggled under the blanket as the ending credits of _A Christmas Story_ began to scroll up the TV screen. They had gone out for breakfast earlier and Andy wasn't sure if it was the Christmas decorations that had adorned the diner or the Christmas music that had played lightly in the background but they had decided that they wanted to spend their day off holed up in Andy's apartment watching their favorite Christmas movies.

They had just finished their second movie and based on Andy's steady breathing, he was wondering if they would make it through a third. "You still awake?" Nick asked in a soft voice.

Andy nodded. "Mm hmm." She gazed at her coffee table that was littered with the junk food that they had bought at the store earlier. "I'm gonna have to run 10k in the morning," Andy remarked. She was pretty sure that she might have a junk food hangover later.

Nick's fingers lightly brushed absently against her hip as a sly smile graced his lips. "I know something that's better than running."

Based on the way his hand was lightly caressing her hip, she knew exactly what he was referring to and it was not riding a bike or swimming. She shifted on the couch so that she was facing him, shaking her head as her mouth quirked up. "Oh really?"

"It's a proven fact that sex burns more calories than running," he told her, full-on grinning.

A challenging expression crossed Andy's features, one of her eyebrows arching upwards. "And where'd you learn that?"

"One of your magazines," he responded without missing a beat. He leaned on his elbow and braced his other hand on the other side of her on the couch as he hovered above her slightly.

"Ah, so that's where my latest issue of Cosmo went," she teased, smiling up at him.

He rolled his eyes at her teasing. "Funny."

Andy shrugged her shoulders as she ran her hands over the defined muscles in his arms. "You're the one who's stealing my magazines," she quipped, her eyes dancing playfully.

Ignoring her comment, he lowered his head and ran his lips along the column of her throat, hoping to distract her. He darted his tongue out before he teasingly nipped at the sensitive skin. As he sat back up again he had a slight smirk on his face. "It's also a proven fact that sex is more fun than running a 5k every morning." He dipped his head as though her were going to kiss her but stopped short before speaking again, still smirking. "Oh, and that whole karma sutra section in your magazine…Talk about burning calories…" Any response that Andy might have had to Nick's comment died instantly as his mouth descended on hers.

* * *

"_1519! Officer down!"_ Andy's voice came over Chris and Nick's squad car radio. _"Officer down!"_ Nick felt his heart seize at the panic in her voice. Since Andy was the one radioing in, he logically knew that she was fine. For the time being. He looked at the radio on the dashboard willing dispatch to let them know Andy and Chloe's position.

"_All available units, we have an officer down at Wenton Park." _The response from dispatch crackled over the radio. _"All available units to Wenton Park. I repeat, officer down."_

Nick did his best to keep his cool as Chris flipped on the lights and siren, hating the fact that he wasn't the one driving. He told himself that this was part of the job. Every day that they went out there, they knew that something like this could happen. Dispatch once again came over the radio. _"1519. What's your exact position in the park?"_

"_Um, we're pinned behind some sort of monument at the east end of the park," _Andy yelled, her voice slightly breathless. _"We're being shot at right now. Chloe's been shot. We need medics. I repeat, Price has been shot. We need medics _now_!" _

This time it was Oliver's voice that Nick heard on the radio. _"Hold on, McNally. We'll be right there."_

"_10-33. Officer down. Active shooter. Officers under fire," _the female dispatcher's voice calmly stated.

Chris glanced over to the other side of the squad car as Nick keyed the microphone to respond. "1527. We're on our way," he responded, his own voice sounding strangely calm to his own ears despite the panic and desperation that he was feeling knowing that the woman he loved was in danger at that very moment. "Approaching King and Duncan." All he wanted to do was get to Andy and Chloe.

"_We got McNally and Price. Diaz, Collins, you find that shooter," _Oliver ordered.

A part of him wanted to argue, but being the cop that he was, he replied, "Copy. We're three minutes out." Chris looked at him expectantly before Nick keyed his radio again. "Andy, you got eyes on the shooter?"

The next few seconds felt like an eternity while he waited for Andy to respond as they sped down a side street, closing in on Andy and Chloe's position. _"Condos at the east end. You guys, he's still shooting at us. I think he's from the roof."_

Nick hated the feeling of helplessness that nearly overwhelmed him. Chris stomped on the gas after they passed through an intersection a couple of blocks away from Wenton Park and Nick glanced over at him gratefully. He hoped that Oliver and Gail were as close as he and Diaz. Chris whipped the car around a corner and Nick could see the condo building at the east end of the park like Andy had described. The car came to a screeching halt in the roundabout in front of the building and both Nick and Chris jumped out of the car, drawing their guns as they approached the glass front doors.

"Stairs! Where're the stairs?!" Nick yelled at the security guard whose eyes were wide as the two officers ran towards the desk that he was sitting behind.

The older man pointed towards a door on the opposite end from the elevator bank. "Over there! They'll take you to the roof!" the man yelled after them as both Nick and Chris took off towards the door. They both stopped as Nick reached for the door knob and Chris gave a silent nod before Nick threw the door open. Seeing that it was clear, Nick led the way up the stairs, quickly and methodically making sure the way up was clear at each landing.

"_1519. ETF and medics are en route." _Nick heard the female dispatcher's voice telling Andy as he rounded the next-to-last landing.

Nick and Chris climbed the last set of stairs as they heard Andy over the radio. _"Guys? Where are you? We've gotta get her outta here."_

"We're inside. Heading to the roof," Chris responded as Nick stopped next to roof access door.

Turning his head, Nick grabbed the door knob like he had done downstairs and looked to Chris to make sure he was ready. He flung the door open and Chris made his way out onto the roof the moment they both realized it was clear. Nick twisted around as he followed Chris out onto the roof, searching for any sign of the shooter. _"I can't stop the bleeding. Please." _He heard Andy's voice catch and her desperation only made him want to catch the bastard even more. _"Where are the medics?!"_

They made their way across the roof, not seeing anyone. Nick looked at Chris as they came to the side of the building where the elevator banks were, he pointed in one direction and Chris nodded as he went in the opposite direction in an effort to possibly flank the shooter if they were still on the rooftop. _"Andy, Andy, it's Oliver. Listen to me. We're seconds away. We're gonna get her away. Stay here. Stay on your radio. Okay?"_

"_Okay," _Andy replied.

As Nick cleared the corner of the small building, he saw that there was no one of the roof and noticed the shell casings lying on the ground near a short concrete pillar. "Roof's clear," he radioed, looking down at the park below. "Shooter's gone." He watched as Oliver and Gail's squad car pulled into the park, and Oliver hopped out. Nick wanted nothing more than to be down in that park, checking to make sure that Andy was alright but he knew it would have to wait because he had a job to do. They all did.

* * *

Andy stared at the pool of blood where she and Chloe had taken shelter as she gave her statement to Officer Lynch. No matter how hard she tried to focus on the details that she needed to give the officer, her thoughts were preoccupied by the moments before the shooting. The way Chloe had excitedly inquired about the status of Nick and Andy's relationship in the squad car. Chloe's happy tone at the thought that Nick and Andy were actually a couple, almost like she had been rooting for them. How she had asked Andy if they could all go on a double date. Andy thought about how she wanted nothing more in that moment than to tell Chloe that she and Nick would go on that double date with her and Dov and that Chloe could even plan it just as long as she was okay. She _had_ to be okay.

* * *

Gazing inside his locker, Nick noticed the silver Sharpie on the top shelf. He had nearly forgotten about the ritual that his army buddies had adopted over the years and he remembered seeing one of the guys in his platoon writing inside the vest the first time. Rollins had looked up at Nick and seen the curiosity on his face and had explained to him that he was writing a message to his wife, just in case he didn't come back from the mission. Nick recalled how the man had offered the Sharpie to him and told him that he could use it if he wanted to, but Nick had politely shaken his head and declined the offer.

He hadn't been the superstitious type. Besides, there hadn't really been anyone that he had wanted to leave a message for.

Staring at the Sharpie, Nick thought about all those times where it was almost a guarantee that he wouldn't make it back from the mission alive and not once had he ever thought of writing a message or a prayer on his vest. When he had seen the bullet hole in Andy's jacket, all Nick had been able to think about was what if it had been Andy that had been shot in the neck. What if something had happened to her and she didn't know that he was in love with her? He had bit back the words then because despite her scaring the hell out of him, she had been fine and he hadn't wanted the first time he said those words to her to be marred by chaos and uncertainty. When he said those words to her, he wanted that moment to be just about them.

Nick grabbed the permanent marker off the shelf and undid his vest as he sat down on the bench, pulling it all the way off and resting it on his knee. Sitting there for a moment, he contemplated what he wanted to say to Andy, the things he wanted her to know if he wasn't able to say them to her himself. Just in case…

_Andy,_

_Every choice that I have made, good or bad, has led me here, to you and I want you to know that I wouldn't change a thing. There's so much I want to tell you but in the end, all that matters is this: I love you, Andy McNally. _

His hand hovered over the vest as he thought about what else he might want to say when Chris's voice broke into his thoughts. "Alright, they're bringing in more squad's from the garage. They're splittin' us up. You've got 1527," Chris told him before tossing Nick the keys.

Nick caught them easily with one hand. "Cool. Thanks," he replied, before looking back down at the note he had written to Andy.

"What's this?" Chris asked, noticing that Nick was writing on the inside of his vest.

Lifting his head, he looked at Chris as he answered him. "Ah, some of the guys in my platoon used to write stuff inside their vests before heading out. Prayers…" he paused as he glanced down at what he had written, his thumb absently brushing over her name. "Messages to loved ones, just in case."

_I will always love you. _He quickly wrote the last part of his note to her.

"Yeah, well, no one else is getting hurt today," Chris stated, not sounding quite as confident as he had intended.

Nick wanted to believe that. He really did, but someone was out there targeting the officers of 15 Division and until they had some solid clues anyone of them could end up just like Chloe, or worse. "Let's hope."

* * *

Andy watched as Nick walked away from her and out of the station. She hated the fact that he was going out there without her to watch his back. It made her feel helpless and useless knowing that he could potentially be in harm's way and she would be powerless to stop it all because one bullet that grazed her jacket was forcing her to ride the desk.

The feeling of their kiss still lingered on her lips. It had felt like someone had a vice grip on her heart as she had thought about the possibility of losing him so she had done the only thing she could think of, short of telling him that she was falling in love with him, and kissed him in the middle of 15 Division. She hadn't cared who might see them because all that had mattered in that moment was that Nick at least knew how deep her feelings for him were. He had let her know from day one that he was all in, and while it might have taken her a little longer than him to realize it, she was all in too.


End file.
